The Sheepdogs The Sheepdogs

• 1 Laid Back 03:30
• 2 Feeling Good 03:10
• 3 Alright OK 04:14
• 4 Never Gonna Get My Love 03:16
• 5 Ewan's Blues 02:43
• 6 The Way It Is 02:34
• 7 Javelina! 02:38
• 8 I Need Help 02:34
• 9 Is Your Dream Worth Dying For? 02:56
• 10 How Late, How Long 03:09
• 11 Sharp Sounds 02:53
• 12 In My Mind 04:06
• 13 While We're Young 02:45
• 14 It Ain't Easy To Go 03:41
• Total Runtime 44:09

Info for The Sheepdogs

With plenty of ’70s flavor and a whole vanload of grooves, Saskatoon’s the Sheepdogs solidify their presence with their eponymous fourth album. The September 2012 release is soaked in the boogie-woogie side of rock and roll, with the band unabashedly laying out some seriously thick grooves and killer rock riffs.

It’s somewhat unbelievable that a band who literally won their way on the cover of arguably the biggest music magazine in history is playing Chicago at a venue with a capacity of 500. It’s equally unbelievable that tickets to see The Sheepdogs at the Double Door went on sale more than a month ago and they’re still available. (Still, it’s doubtful this stereotypically former struggling, constantly traveling band of four world-weary men from Saskatoon are complaining.) It’s just too bad that quite a few Chicagolandareans are going to miss out on some collective, ’70s rock-caliber face-melting.

Reminiscent of plenty of Rolling Stone predecessors, The Sheepdogs reincarnate CCR, The Allman Brothers, and Led Zeppelin, all of which frontman Ewan Currie noted as inspiration. He added, “I know that’s a lot of big names to be throwing around, but you shoot high and you fall somewhere.” The Sheepdogs have fallen into the land of classic rock harmonies, guitar solos as unabashedly psychedelic as the band members’ flowing locks, and melodic bass lines that totally legitimize the word “groovy” in critical commentary (hear: “Javelina!”). The fuzzy stomp-clap jam “Feeling Good” brings to mind fellow classic rock revivalists The Black Keys’ “Gold on the Ceiling” (fitting, as Patrick Carney produced this record), “I Need Help” could be in the credits to Dazed and Confused, and “In My Mind” plays with Ravi Shankar’s sitar.

The record is warmer and more polished than previous efforts, and it feels like a triumph for a band that’s paid their dues. Perhaps their adopted attitude is found on “Laid Back”: “There’s trouble on every track/ So just keep it laid back” — a more positive outlook than 2010’s “Learn & Burn” on which the group harmonized “I don’t get by/ I just sit around getting high.” Laid back and high or not, the group’s definitely getting by. Amanada Koellner, www.consequenceofsound.net)

Ewan Currie, vocals & guitar
Leot Hanson, guitar
Ryan Gullen, bass & backing vocals
Sam Corbett, drums & vocals

Produced by the Black Keys’ Patrick Carney and Austin Scaggs

No biography found.

This album contains no booklet.