Home\nBlue Moon Revue\nBlue Moon Revue Records\nLocal soul-slingers Blue Moon Revue have released their first album and called it Home. Blue Moon Revue is more like a wedding band than anything else. The group is full of capable musicians whose originals go absolutely nowhere. The exception is keyboardist Andrew Scalercio who really contributes some interesting elements to the album \nBMR play together exceptionally well as a group. They reproduce spot on covers at their shows, and it's obvious that they rehearse often. They've carried this over to the studio, where they've created a clean record with immaculate production value. Because of this though, Home ends up sounding more like an R. Kelly record than the muddy soul and blues they are obviously influenced by. \nWithin the confines of this record, BMR don't seem to be aiming for anything but textbook structure in their songwriting. The sound is reminiscent of Luther Vandross crossed with a bluegrass group, but considerably heavier on the Vandross side. They even go so far as to completely rip off Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle" right down to the brass scores on their own "Time." Unfortunately Matt Marshall's painfully restrained vocals don't have anywhere near the conviction of Redding, or for that matter Chris Robinson's on the Black Crowes' version. \nThe other problem with BMR is their ham-fisted approach to lyric writing. Lines like, "Well Indiana weather it seemed like such a bore/there's gotta be so much more" (from "Montana") and many others come devoid of any wit or sarcasm. Well it's not fair to expect "Moby Dick" from them, but the lyrics sound like the work of sheltered college students.\nOverall, there is nothing really terrible about Home, conversely, there is also nothing very good about it either. There is nothing on this album that will offend the listener outright and not a track on the disc is challenging to listen to. But the near-robotic vocals and the verbose bass lines will wear down the listener to the point that BMR is not too bad for background music.\n
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