Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Former Dada members Michael Gurley and Phil Leavitt return here as the key musicians behind Butterfly Jones. A couple of these songs recall Dada's obnoxious 1992 modern-rock hit "Dizz Knee Land" in their spoken-verse/sung-chorus patterns, but the album makes clear that Gurley, Leavitt, and coproducer Scott Gordon have more than that single trick up their sleeves. If early-'70s lite-rockers Bread had started their career 30 years later, learning to politely crank the guitars when a chorus comes along, add the occasional drum loop, and indulge in a bit of modern-day self-protective cynicism, they might have ended up sounding a bit like Napalm Springs. "Anywhere but Here" blossoms from a quiet beginning into radio-ready glory; similarly, "Sunshine and Ecstasy" could be a Jellyfish outtake, carrying its knowing "ba ba ba" refrain into full-blown production-number splendor. So are the Jones boys anything more than the sum of their devices? Probably not, but those devices are much more effective than much of what passes for catchy on 2001's pop-rock radio. --Rickey Wright
Napalm Springs,Butterfly Jones,Vanguard Records,Pop,Rock,Rock/Pop
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