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Bedouin Soundclash
Street Gospels
(SideOneDummy)
First Appeared in The Music Box, August 2007, Volume 14, #8
Written by John Metzger
Six years and several outings into its career, Bedouin Soundclash still is
making music that fares best when it is taken in small doses. Its latest effort
Street Gospels, for example, spans a mere 42 minutes, which is
considerably short by today’s long-winded standards. Nevertheless, as the album
reaches its midpoint, it begins to wear out its welcome. It’s not that Street
Gospels has been front-loaded with Bedouin Soundclash’s best material,
either. It’s just that the group’s approach is too monochromatic for its own
good. Although the band attempts to fold everything from Britpop to punk into
its Jamaican-dance-hall grooves, the results are diluted rather than bolstered
by the diversity. Bedouin Soundclash’s songs simply aren’t edgy enough to appeal
to fans of The Clash, nor are they soulful enough to attract the followers of
Toots & the Maytals. Instead, they run together until they become an indistinct
blur.
As was the case with its prior endeavors, rhythm and movement remain the
prime motivators for Bedouin Soundclash. At its heart, Street Gospels
exhibits the kind of laid-back, easy-going cheerfulness that increasingly has
become associated in a cliché-like fashion
with Carribean island resorts. As front man Jay Malinowski sends his voice
sailing across the opening cut Until We Burn in the Sun (The Kids Just Want a
Love Song), however, it appears, at least initially, as if the band has
joined the masses by repositioning itself as a cross between U2 and Oasis. As
the tune progresses, it becomes equally clear that the group merely has
tightened up its songs in a bid for mainstream exposure.
Sometimes — as in the case of the Clash-evoking Gunships; the
sunshine-splattered jubilance of Bells of 59; or the Paul Simon-kissed
pairing of Walls Fall Down and St. Andrews — Bedouin Soundclash’s
material is made temporarily irresistible. In fact, the only real dud on the set
is Hush, an a cappella track that strives to be a blues-y spiritual but
ultimately sounds like fodder for a boy band. There’s no question that Street
Gospels has its moments, and taken individually, its songs sound great, even
if they don’t leave much of a lasting impression. In the end, it’s not a
terribly good album, but it is just the sort of thing that will survive the
random shuffle of an iPod play list. 
Street Gospels is available from Amazon.com.
To order, Click Here!
For Canadian orders, please
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2007 The Music Box
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