The Greenhornes - Sewed Soles

Jack White likes to help out bands he sees potential in. He helped the Von Bondies…well, for a little while anyway. And going in a rather different direction, White’s latest pet project is Ohio’s own The Greenhornes, a retro-centered trio who desperately want to be coming of age in about 1965. Pop in Sewed Soles, something of a compilation of the earlier unsigned releases by The Greenhornes, and you immediately think of The Kinks, early Rolling Stones, The Doors, The Who, The Yardbirds...and so on. This was my discovery on the Friday before New Years, and I immediately thought, "Maybe I can get through the work day after all." But before long, I realized that the whole album is basically a cover album. Not in the sense that they aren't original songs - they are - but in the sense that the band itself operates in a style of pure homage to their heroes. Whether it’s the fat Entwistle-tinged bassline of “Pattern Skies,” the Stones-influenced songs like “Lies” and “Hold Me,” (and really half the album), or The Doors-laced “Shame & Misery, ” The Greenhornes put their influences squarely on their sleeves. It’s like they borrowed a magical musical mixer and put in all of their favorite bands on puree, never settling on one and never really finding their own voice. Basically, they’re not even re-inventing the wheel here; they are redoing it in a fashion that is, admittedly, to be admired and appreciated. But the more i listen, the more I'm convinced that they will be written off if they don’t do something else fast. There’s very little in the way of originality in the feel or arrangements. Every song makes you go, "Hey, that sounds like The Kinks; hey, that sounds like the early Stones; hey, that sounds like The Animals" and so on. They're talented, no argument there, and they'd do well live I think and for a little while commercially, but for the long haul they'd better find a way of making their music their own. Because no matter how good they are at mimicking their idols, they’ll need to find a better way of reinterpreting it altogether if they want staying power. [www.greenhornes.com]