Early Nothing is almost there. I didn't care for The Reds previous effort, Fugitives From The Laughing House, but this one almost has me sold.These guys have paid their dues.For me it's the vocals that are a difficult battle. Rick Shaffer is obviously influenced by the likes of Nick Cave and Tom Waits, but he lies somewhere in the middle.His voice isn't gritty enough to be Waits and it's not even close to being as smooth as Cave's. You might liken his voice to that of Mick Jagger. With that being said, I do love the dark instrumentation of the album. Songs are brooding and gloomy which really works, and that is the selling feature of The Reds.
The album starts out with "Big Boy," a song that gives the listener a perfect impression on what to expect for the next 40 minutes. I like the bluesy flavor of "A Few Dollars More."The group is obviously talented Dennis Scanland Calgary, Canada
