Search - Len Price 3 :: Rent a Crowd

Great CD

M. Kleinbart | California | 10/17/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a very strong effort. Full of catchy tunes and interesting lyrics. Great new band to keep an eye on."

Sophmore Efforts Are Hard

Paul Weiner | Austin, Texas | 07/03/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a good record, and I hate to say this, I like the first album better. It is cliche to say that, I know...

I like this album alot and it is getting lots of spins, so it may grow on me more over time. Worth getting for sue, if you liked the 1 st album."

Only a slight sophomore slump from this Medway trio

Alan Hutchins | Denver, CO | 03/05/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Len Price 3 are responsible for lots of ringing ears and several episodes of "oy, doesn't that song sorta sound like..." among the masses of sweaty pub crawling punters in the Medway, Kent environs. Their debut disc Chinese Burn only took a half an hour to hear but its effects can last years...decades, even. Anyone in love with actual, guitar-bass-drums Rock-n-Roll with a strong affection for the harder, more British side of the British invasion and/or subsequent standard bearers (i.e. the Kinks, the Who, Small Faces, the Jam) will "get" what these three louts are up to.



Rent A Crowd takes up where Chinese Burn left off--in fact, it's practically a sequel. Who and Kinks songs again show up as clear templates for some material here---The title song, a put down of some unnamed British music industry poseur, is practically a rewrite of the Who's "Substitute". "Doctor Gee" seems to have resulted from throwing the Byrds' "Turn, Turn, Turn" into a blender with the Who's "The Kids Are Alright", then hitting the puree button for a few seconds. The two slower songs, "Mesmer" and "Australia" (not counting the hidden track) are where the Ray Davies/Kinks nod shows up in spades, although "Cold 500" has a cloned riff that progresses up the scale from the home key just like the Kinks in "You Really Got Me".



The only reason this disc clocks in over 7 minutes ahead of the debut is that the last song "Australia", all 2:17 of it, is followed by nearly four minutes of silence leading into a sort of mid-tempo bluesey song that may be called something like "Girl,I Gotta Go"(either that or "When Death Comes For My Soul"). At 3:20, it's by far the longest released Len Price 3 song ever--the first to break the three minute barrier. The problem is that the song is really nothing very special; hardly worth the waiting/seeking you have to do to find it.



The final tally of "Rentacrowd" is that most of the visceral, tuneful excitement of the debut is present, but ultimately, there's a bit less of it. There's also more of a sense that they are running low on strong riffs, as several of these numbers rejumble the same few chords a time or two. Here's hoping this very promising group is able to come up with a full menu of heavy hitting stuff that provides, say, 35 minutes of bliss next time out.

"