Athens, GA, singer/songwriter/guitarist Jim Willingham's debut album with his band
Ham1 is self-financed and self-released, so it's no surprise that the disc has a lo-fi sound and a D.I.Y. feel, its tracks coming off more as demos than finished performances. But the rudimentary production works to the advantage of Willingham's music, some of which ("Out on the Tarmac," "Swan Dive") consists of
Velvet Underground-style simple rock & roll, while other compositions ("Wrong Way Marshall," "Alice's Call," "Lost Granny") are attractive instrumentals that reflect the bandleader's professed affection for movie soundtrack music. By the evidence of its first album,
Ham1 is a promising outfit that so far is more about ideas than execution, which is what one might have said about the first efforts of hometown heroes
R.E.M. 25 years earlier. ~ William Ruhlmann