Dr. Dog B-Room 2013

I like this band quite a bit, and this new one continues a string of excellent records that started with the near-perfect Shame, Shame in 2010. Their earliest records suffered from lo-fi recordings and the general sound of a band and its songwriters finding their way. Well, they've found it, and now they are just going to try to keep it going. So far, so good. Shame, Shame 2010, Be The Void 2012, and the EP Wild Race 2012 all feature their unique blend of all things sixties and seventies pop-rock-psychedelia; danceable beats, multiple voice singalong choruses, interestingly spacey lyrics, fine arrangements and strong musicianship.

Some critics have given them a hard time recently for an apparent lack of growth, doing the same thing again. You gotta wonder what would make these jokers happy. The band finally gets it right in every way on Shame, Shame, and when they try, mostly successfully, to duplicate that record's success, they get beat up in the press for not branching out.

I don't get it. Just about everything here works. Broken Heart, Minding The Usher, Distant Light, Phenomenon, Long Way Down, Rock And Roll, and Love are all as good as anything they've done. Only the spare Too Weak To Ramble and the ethereal ballad Twilight disappoint, and I may be getting too picky just because of the strength of the rest of the songs.

Complaining that this band isn't progressing appropriately is much like saying the first four Beatles albums sound too much the same. Get over it. Enjoy another heaping helping of Dr. Dog.