Search - Railroad Earth :: Good Life

Magnificent

John S. Ryan | Silver Lake, OH | 07/02/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD (RRE's third) was released in June of 2004, but I didn't know about it because I was preparing to take the Ohio bar exam. Under those circumstances, it's just as well that I _didn't_ know about it, or I'd have spent all my study time listening to the durned thing.



Well, now I've got it, and it's every bit as good as I expected. And it cements RRE's position as my favorite currently existing band in any category.



The musical duties are distributed in pretty much the same way here as on their previous two releases: Todd Sheaffer handles vocals and guitar and does the bulk of the songwriting; John Skehan, Tim Carbone, and Andy Goessling provide the band's trademark swirling-and-skirling texture; new bassist Johnny Grubb (replacing Dave Von Dollen) and percussionist Carey Harmon provide the solid ground they take off from and land on. Every one of them is an ace at his job -- and Skehan (mostly mandolin), Carbone (mostly fiddle), and Goessling (mostly banjo and guitar) seem to play every instrument under the sun at one time or another. The arrangements sound tighter than on their previous releases and everything seems a little more structured.



As on _The Black Bear Sessions_ and _Bird In A House_, the real heart of the CD is Sheaffer's songwriting, which this time out seems a bit less otherworldly and a bit more focused and topical. On a few songs the other guys write some of the music (and Skehan contributes a fine instrumental), but basically, things go in the direction Sheaffer takes them.



And it works yet again. Sheaffer is stretching himself here and his material sometimes enters what, for RRE, is new musical territory -- but every song is a gem and there's really not a weak moment on the entire CD. As before, many of the songs are 'long' without _feeling_ long: you'll listen to a tune without even noticing that six or seven minutes have gone by, and then wonder why it ended so soon.



Probably the most daring piece is 'Goat', an utterly brilliant, penetrating, and haunting take on Leviticus 16:21-22 (and my current favorite song on the CD, though it may not be for all listeners). And probably the most flat-out gorgeous is 'Said What You Mean', a captivating ballad that, to my ear at least, recalls _Double Fantasy_-era John Lennon. In general, Sheaffer has written lots more lyrics to these songs than on the band's earlier CDs, with the result that there's significantly less trading of instrumental solos. (That's not to say that the rest of the band is idle, just that Sheaffer doesn't always stop singing while they work their mojo.)



Which reminds me of one other well-considered change: this time there's a lyric booklet, with the words to all the songs except the hidden twelfth track. I like lyric booklets in general, and I especially like them for RRE because it's occasionally hard to hear exactly what Sheaffer is singing.



RRE occupies some weird niche in musical space that is somehow entirely their own but simultaneously 'next door' to lots of wildly disparate styles. Of course they've been compared (and appropriately) to the Grateful Dead, but on _The Good Life_ they also, at fleeting moments, remind me of e.g. the Beatles (especially the aforementioned Lennon), the Byrds, ELO, Tom Petty, Arlo Guthrie, and the Rolling Stones. (Which is pretty amazing for a mostly acoustic band relying mainly on bluegrass instruments. Part of it is Sheaffer's voice, and part of it is because these guys are just so danged _good_ on all those instruments.)



I'm not going to try to rank these three CDs in order of quality; I've got my favorite parts of each, and no doubt you'll have yours, and yours may not be the same as mine. The main thing is, if you like this band, they really haven't released a CD you can afford to skip."

Boo Ya!!! Too good to share!!

Michael Coyle | Waitsfield, VT United States | 06/28/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wow, it's taken quite a few thousand albums to inspire me to write a review of a new album... This follow-up to Bird in a House (also a brilliant album) is absolutely fantastic. I was sold on the band the moment I first heard them on their debut The Blackbear Sessions. I then saw them live in Waitsfield, VT (see title track # 5, Good Life, "went up the Mad River Valley and never looked back...") and realized that I was completely sold.
I have to admit, with a slight change of style I was ready for a let-down. Good Life was just the opposite. I've never listened to an album (well maybe Dark Side of the Moon) so many times. I left it in the truck and it made me want to drive all the time.
The album is strong throughout, with my favorites being:
#1: Storms
A ghostly ambience like the moments just before the rain starts pouring down, except with tempo and smooth melodies
#3: Mourning Flies
Another haunting melody that digs deep and hits you, paving the way for a firm quiet jam
#4: Long Way to Go
This song could have been written in 60's/70's, by Creedence Clearwater Revival. One of the catchy tune on the album, I've been whistling and mouthing this one for weeks.
#6: Said What You Mean
A purely original, not quite tear-jerking ballad. From start to finish exactly what I want to be listening to. It makes me feel a little like I'm back in middle school in that I haven't been this moved by a ballad since then.
Te rest of the tunes on the album.. they blow away some of the finest on other recent albums from related bands. If you haven't listened to any RRE shame on you."

Bread in the Oven and Books on the Shelf

Steve Jackson | New England | 09/25/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

""The Good Life" is Railroad Earth's third CD. The band was formed in 2001 and came out with its first CD ("Railroad Earth") in 2001. This was followed by 2002's "Bird in the House." The band's genre might best be described as bluegrass. I'm not a huge bluegrass fan, but I did enjoy their first two CDs. With "The Good Life", the band has branched out a bit, making it my favorite RRE CD.



As reviewers note, RRE reminds the listener of other bands but manages to sound original at the same time. In addition to the influences suggested by others, I'd add The Band and Neil Young to the mix. Lead singer and principal songwriter Todd Sheaffer sounds a lot like John Lennon and a couple songs remind me of John Lennon material (Beatles and solo stuff).



In addition to the stylistic variety, the songs rang from the uplifting ("Storms"), the serious ("Goat"), the touching ("In the Basement") and the humorous (the final bonus song). It's not often that a band can range over such a wide variety of styles. My favorite song is "Long Way to Go", which starts out like late John Lennon and ends sounding like Black Gospel.

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