Album Review

All Y'All

Gringo Star
All Y'All

[My Anxious Mouth Records; 2008]

6.4

Find it at: Insound | eMusic | Lala

It's not fair to judge a band by its moniker. If it were, even more great but stupidly named groups would fall by the wayside than do already. Even so, "Gringo Star" brings to mind no less than a novelty Tex-Mex Beatles cover band, and that's asking for trouble. (In my conception, Gringo is joined on stage by Juan, Pablo, y Jorge, each donning a sharp suit and wearing a lucha libre mask.)

Granted, Gringo Star is already a better name than A Fir-Ju Well, the former nom de rock of the Atlanta band (a play on the last name of band brothers Peter and Nicholas Furgiuele). So that's progress. Yet Gringo Star aren't about progress so much as stylized regression to the expertly captured golden age of garage and British Invasion rock. In fact, it's easy to imagine catching Gringo Star one night and leaving persuaded you've witnessed the second coming. This kind of stuff-- packed with hooks, propelled by larger than life swagger-- tends to make converts when it's blasting in your face, and the band is doing everything in its power to make you pay attention. So: hooks, attitude, and a dead-on 1960s aesthetic-- what's not to like?

On its otherwise solid debut, All Y'All , Gringo Star pretty much reveal everything you're going to get on the lead title track, which features all the usual 60s hallmarks and accoutrements-- handclaps, tambourine, tight harmonies, a thrilling riff here, a twangy lead there, a short but snarling solo tossed into the middle of it all-- each expertly shaped and assembled by producer Ben Allen into a perfect period reproduction. Then the band does it again with "Ask Me Why". And again with "Up and Down". And again with the infectious "Come On Now". And so on. After just a few songs in it begins to dawn upon you: this is good stuff, catchy and hyper-confident, but is it enough?

More to the point, does it need to be? Expectations lowered, or at least tempered, what's left is to simply enjoy the disc as the throwback that it is, as if it were the first disc of a hypothetical boxed set that captures a band's early days before it gets even better. That the particular parallel band in this instance happens to be the Kinks doesn't necessarily do Gringo Star any favors, since lyrically the Gringos don't connect as easily as the guitars do. When the tempos slow, as they do on "Transmission", the words become more apparent, and while the reveal offers nothing to be ashamed of, it's a far cry from the wit and bite of Ray Davies.

If it's unfair to judge a band by its name, it's just as unfair to judge a band by its primary influence, particularly that one influence. But when a band all but demands the comparison, it's setting itself up to fall short. After all, to attempt to match the Kinks is a losing proposition, since at best you're going to come close enough to emphasize how far you still are. Working in the band's favor, however, is the fact that (for the time being) Gringo Star exists and the Kinks do not, so every time the band hits the stage it can rest assured that in the uncontested Gringo Star/Kinks live showdown, Gringo will always end the night triumphant. The songs are strong, but it's the sweat that will need to do the convincing.

— Joshua Klein, March 4, 2009


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