Road Apples - The Weak And The Wild

Hear The Track Here

It's been ages since I last came across a Road Apples track. I've been kept busy with his other persona(s) Ska Rapples, Sad Hill Cemetery and A Cry Of Hounds, all of which I have enjoyed immensely because - when all is said and done - Road Apples is my favourite kind of musician - a rock and roll animal. Being a musician of Canadian extraction he does have a distinctly North American rock sound, but it has never stopped me from getting into it. I can't say the same about most North American bands, some of the rock styles just refuse to travel.

The Weak and The Wild is the first Road Apples track I have reviewed since the awesome Beautiful Creation (August 2008) by my reckoning although my filing system may have seized up under the strain and several dozen of them slipped under the wire. It also features the man himself on his new pride and joy - drums. Musically the tracks owes a lot to the country genre although the way it is treated is absolutely classic rock and no mistake. Stylistically I am reminded of Bob Dylan in his country period and I think that is down to the arrangement.

Considering that everything you are hearing is coming from the hands and brain from one guy, the sound is surprisingly fresh and open although I have to be honest and state that the style did tend to wear on me after a while, but that's nothing new. While I do like material like this (it does after all touch on Americana another genre I like a lot) it's slow pace and style just got on my nerves, and I reached for something more raucous. However, in my more retrospective moments, this was bloody marvellous medicine for my battered ears. Whatever, no bones whatsoever to pick in its technical and performance values, as is customary with this musician.

Highly Recommended almost country rock...