Last Train Home kicks off Last Good Kiss with the title cut, a hard luck tale of love gone stale. The band -- lead vocalist Eric Brace, bassist Jim Gray, drummer Martin Lynds, guitarist Steve Wedemeyer, keyboardist Jen Gunderman, and trumpeter Kevin Cordt -- rocks hard here with a guitar sound reminiscent of the Outlaws. The midtempo "Flood" sustains the somber mood with a soulful chorus and lots of heavy percussion to underline the brooding pace. Brace sings well, delivering these sad songs with easy confidence, and is equally comfortable with both harder country-rock and ballads. The arrangements ease a bit on "Anywhere But Here," a downbeat ballad propped up by gentle keyboards and plenty of acoustic guitar. In other places, the arrangements are bolstered by accordion ("Can't Come Undone") and trumpet ("Kissing Booth"). Most of the songs on Last Good Kiss are fairly long (near four minutes or longer), but Last Train Home plays well as a unit, holding the tension together even when songs like "May" stretch out to seven minutes. The songwriter runs deep on Last Good Kiss, with enjoyable (if downbeat) fare like "Marking Time" showing up on the next to last track. Well-written and performed, Last Good Kiss is a fine display of Last Train Home's talents.
© Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr. /TiVo