Twenty-one years into their career, smart-aleck New Orleans-based roots rock trio
Dash Rip Rock sticks with what's worked for them before on 2005's
Recyclone. The statement-of-purpose opener, "Shootin' Up Signs," is one of the group's best, and would place even higher if it lacked the repetitive last 90 seconds or so, and from that point, the album skips around between high-velocity rockabilly ("Johnny Ace"),
NRBQ-style power pop ("She's Got a Lot of Nerve"), rockin' country ("Silver Moonlit Rail"), straight-ahead garage rock ("BFE"), and back again. At 20 tracks and 61 minutes, the album is probably longer than it really needs to be, since by the album's end, even gems like the urgent, power poppy "Call Me When You Find My Number" tend to blend into their surroundings a bit. But then, ever since
the Young Fresh Fellows broke up, this kind of tomfoolery has been frustratingly thin on the ground, so complaints about too much of a good thing are a bit churlish. ~ Stewart Mason