Shattered
15 July 2014
Merge
3.5 stars out of 5
Memphis-born Greg Cartwright has been a fixture on the
garage rock scene for two and a half decades, in bands such as Compulsive
Gamblers, Oblivians, The Deadly Snakes, and since 2001 the Reigning Sound. A
traditionalist, Cartwright never strays too far from the ‘60s garage rock feel,
although here and there he might add touches of Phil Spector or pay tribute to
that other famous Memphis resident, Justin
Timbe Elvis Presley.
Shattered is
filled with richly-detailed nostalgia. Cartwright’s finely-honed songwriting
skills and feel for the genre frequently lift his songs out of mere “garage
rock” status and into the rarefied air of icons such as Van Morrison (“My My”)
and The Rolling Stones (“My My”—seriously, the song recalls both Sir Mick and The
Belfast Cowboy). “Baby, It’s Too Late” recalls Motown in the mid-‘60s. Reigning
Sound go back a decade earlier for the album closer, “I’m Trying (To Be the Man
You Need),” a slow dance to the radio with your sweetheart in the glare of the
headlights of your ’58 tailfinned boat of a car, off in the middle of a field
where no one can see your midnight romance.
While Cartwright & Co.
are—obviously—breaking no new ground
on their new LP, they give us a very delicately reconstructed vision of the
past, one that is as rewarding to the intellect as it is pleasing to the ear. Only
the most hardcore of snobs would be immune to the multi-faceted charms of Shattered.
reviewed by Richard Krueger
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