Homewrecker Spoon

My Modest Review

     

Playing for over a quarter of a century now, New York City based pop-rock band, Life in a Blender just got another die-hard fan. I was lucky enough to stumble upon their last performance of the year, their December 3rd show at The Living Room in the Lower East Side. It wasn't long until I found myself bobbing my head along and happily clapping my hands to their latest album's track "Sean Connery," a fun ditty about the famous "Diamonds are Forever" photo of the once young debonair, Sean Connery sitting in a bath reading a magazine with Sammy Davis, Jr. on the cover. Now, I'm practically giving away its lyrics with my description. It's hard not to because front man, Don Ralph, has brilliantly crafted the song about a photo so well I can already clearly envision it in my mind. Don and his backup continue to harmoniously sing the song's suggesting lyrics, "You should see Sean Connery..." To follow up his literal interpretation, he slyly pulls out the photo and shows it to the audience before ripping it up in pieces for his conclusion of what should be Sean Connery's personal soundtrack.

Feeling compelled by Life in a Blender's lively theatrical music performance that evening, I eagerly purchase their seventh album, Homewrecker Spoon. As soon as I plug in my ear buds and press play on my iPod, I'm immediately drawn in by the devilishly witty tale of its first track, "Go to Man," listening to them masterfully tell me the story of a seedy man willing to help you out with whatever your needs or desires may be...for a price!

The second and album title track, "Homewrecker Spoon" easily keeps me seduced with Al Houghton's funky guitar strokes mingled with Don's raspy voice singing its quirky rhyming lyrics in the pre-chorus followed with Ed Pastorini's vaudeville style piano playing in the chorus. As Don sings "Reminds me of old homewrecker spoon..." I'm reminded of all those silly songs dad used to sing to me on his guitar and all those nursery rhymes that taught me all those lessons years ago. So, I guess those nursery rhymes did give me a clue, Don.

HWS' sixth track and my favorite, "Hoot Owl" is a bit harder to describe which may be the reason I like it so much. Because, sometimes, I feel like I'm hard to describe.
We all like things that remind us of ourselves. We all love a little reminder of our past. I think this entire album promotes just that: a nostalgic trip into the deepest part of ourselves, a little reminder of who we are, and that it's okay to have a little fun. So don't forget to buy this album and consider this your reminder.