Phil Mongredien 

Essential Tremors review – J Roddy Walston’s 70s-inflected rock doesn’t quite do the business

J Roddy Walston and the Business don't quite live up to their name with this album of 70s-inspired rock, writes Phil Mongredien
  
  


The classic 70s rock stylings of pianist frontman Walston and friends recently earned them a coveted slot on David Letterman's Late Show . On the evidence of their third album, it isn't obvious why. There's no fresh spin on the hoary old Led Zep-isms of Sweat Shock and recent single Heavy Bells, while more ponderous material fails to distinguish them from a competent bar band. They're noticeably better when Walston dispenses with his growl and the arrangements are less frenetic, as on Nobody Knows, which recalls the 1970s power-pop of Badfinger. Still, it's hard to see this making as much impact this side of the Atlantic.

 

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