RAISINS IN THE SUN
Raisins in the Sun
Rounder
· Studio project includes Chuck Prophet, Jules Shear and legendary producers/session players Jim Dickinson, Paul Q. Kolderie and Sean Slade.
When a bunch of musicians who are all in other bands get together and make music under a stupid name, this is known in musician circles as a "fuckband." When all the members of a fuckband are famous, the press will call them a "supergroup." But a fuckband’s a fuckband to me.
Raisins in the Sun is a great fuckband: a bunch of seasoned vets who can play the hell out of their instruments and write songs in their sleep – which I think they might have here. The record as a whole falls right between Hater and the Travelling Wilburys (two consummate fuckbands), right about where the Replacements lived.
This ain’t a bad hunk o’ wax, actually. Perfect summer listening, not too demanding. But the fuckband’s strength – their ability not to take themselves too seriously – is, in this case as in many others, their downfall. None of the songs here are going to blow your brains out – though a couple of them give it a hell of a try.
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