Big Wreck - The Pleasure & The Greed

Big Wreck’s “The Pleasure and the Greed”, in its entirely, is a magnificent collection of songs. For those of you coming from the grunge generation that are getting a bit tired of the recent rock clichés (and those numbers are growing), “The Pleasure and the Greed”, is a terrific album, guaranteed to revive your faith in rock music. To sum up the sound, I would compare it most to Chris Cornell’s solo attempt, “Euphoria Morning” but with a little more energy and experiment. Ian Thornley produces a range that rivals that of Cornell with just as much power, which is hard to imagine, but true. Being a graduate of Berkley, the complicated music you might expect does not show at all. His studies must have been in composition. Even though it’s far from technical, these powerful and creative songs are never predictable. His chord progressions and simple “riffs” don’t sound like anything I’ve heard recently, and his talent surely shows up with the delayed banjo and mandolin runs that sort of show up in the middle of something heavy. The album is extremely thick, covered in three part harmony’s (where needed), really solid and simple beats, and songs that are catchy in the best kinda way. No song sounds the same, and the album tumbles over power ballads, crunchy supertunes, and even a little acoustic jam near the end to show off. If the single, “Inhale” makes it to the radio, it will surely push itself. Luckily, Big Wreck has totally avoided the sophomore jinx, and has produced a well written, well produced pile of really good rock songs. For the starving Soundgarden, Brother Cane, or early nineties hard rock fan, this album is a big, big relief. I don’t believe in perfect scores. I’m like that professor that refuses to give them to anyone. And I’m pretty sure Simple feels the same way. [www.bigwreck.com]