Bands You (prolly) Never Heard About (pt3)

With Hoofomobile sending me the heads up on some members of Naked Rhythm going on to form Wobble, I immediately went out and spent the $6 to buy the mp3 album. You can buy it and/or preview all the tracks here.








Two things went through my mind at first listen:

1. I know this record and have heard it many times.



2. I probably still have this CD in my boxes of music in my basement.

The Wobble CD is good, I like it a lot. I remember playing Miserable a few times on my hard rock radio show in college...but yet, I didn't remember it. There are probably many reasons for this. At the time I was receiving so much much that anything that was decent but neither totally fabulous (Speed Mcqeen) or totally awful (Wesley Willis) often got lost in the shuffle. There is so much good music that is just a step from being great that it is really hard to stand out. I can name many other bands that have also fallen into this category - music I liked a lot but for whatever reason was missing a little something to make that powerful connection that you will never forget.

I was much more angst ridden at the time, so darker music and lyrics often ruled the day (aka Marilyn Manson and the like). Wobble was just a little too upbeat with a southern twang and corny sense of humor to make a semi-permanent stay in my CD player and heart. Although now that I know this band is descended from Naked Rhythm, I can hear it in some of their music (although not nearly as heavy) and definitely their humor. At the time though, it just wasn't something that I would have really been into I don't think.

All their songs are decent. You wouldn't think this would be an issue, but trying to make a choice on the radio it was a problem. Picking a song that you think people will really enjoy and catch on is hard when every song on the album is good and interesting in its own way. Nothing really stuck out, nothing was super catchy...so again, it all just got lost in the shuffle even though all the music was good.

Finally, I never saw them in concert. I would always give preference to bands that toured the area in both my personal playing and college radio show. Mostly this was because of my love of concerts and if I saw a band live the music would stick with me more because of that experience. Iowa's music scene can be pretty limited at times, so I always tried to reward the bands that made the extra effort to play here. Would I have liked the Naked Rhythm CD even though I didn't see them in concert? Probably, but also probably not as much...that CD was in my CD player for weeks so that I could try to remember all the details of the concert.

Wobble is a fun CD that I think would be great for long road trips because all the songs are good and they have a pretty diverse sound throughout the album. Miserable, Molecule, and Saddlesore Romeo are all standouts in my mind although I do enjoy every song. I thought it was a good buy for $6, but your mileage may vary.