There's probably nothing else that I hate worse that when bands I've never heard of because they happen to know the same people I do and they want me to review their latest release. For some reason they know I "work" for an online music site (which, by the way, they can never remember the name of) and it would be awesome/great/amazing if I could review their music offering. The Spirit of 76 happens to be the latest band on this thankfully really short list that has called upon me for a token review.
I've never heard The Spirit of 76 until one cold evening my friend Tommy and I stopped at their shared practice space to pick up some instruments and what not. The people in The Spirit of 76 were all amicable fellows and very receptive to us hearing a new song they were working on. I barely remember what I heard that night besides they were rocking in a way I haven't heard, well since 1976.
Okay, I was two years old in 1976 but you know what I'm talking about. The Spirit of 76 is a rock band that doesn't sound like they wouldn't be out of place if you heard them between Elton John, Kansas, or Led Zeppelin tracks on your favorite classic rock station. Yup, The Spirit of 76 is about as far from my musical taste as techno opera played in elevators. However, hear I am listening to their self-titled debut album and enjoying what I am hearing.
If The Spirit of 76 has anything going for them is that they really know how to craft a song. The songs are full of peaks and valley of toe tapping catchy choruses and verses provide an ebb and flown of build ups and crescendos. It seems that The Spirit of 76 have only one thing in their mind when they create songs and that's getting your booty moving while cracking a smile upon your face. If I saw them in any number of watering holes in the Twin Cities I have to admit I would have hard time keeping myself not bobbing around in my beer stained stool.
I can't believe how much I am actually enjoying these songs. I feel like some old cantankerous music exec in 1977 wearing an awful plaid jacket paired with striped bell bottoms gnawing on a cigar and I just discovered the next great act. The thing about good songs is that they are just that, good songs. No matter how many fast as hell straight-edge, melodic, grunted spastic hardcore bands I hear throughout my lifetime I still know a good rocking pop tune when I hear it. The Spirit of 76 have good songs, great songs even. You can't help but to clap along and try to cut a little rug in your apartment on a Friday night. The band has somehow channeled the feel good rock of all those AOR bands that your parents have records of but without feeling rehashed or hackneyed. This self-released, self-titled effort from this Minneapolis rock band has probably been my favorite listen to in quite some time. It's completely not "my thing" but when the music itself is this good it really doesn't matter.
