Published on May 8, 1997
Ever since I offered to review unsigned bands here on “The Daily
Vault,” we have been getting requests from bands looking for some
positive press – fortunately, all of the bands I’ve reviewed in
this vein have been worthy of praise on these pages.
But when I got an e-mail from Bo Galczyk from the band Bogart
asking for a review, he was to the point: “I realize you may
crucify us, but if you can’t stand the heat…” When he sent
Bogart’s two discs to me, his letter said in part: “We hope you
find the music to have some merit but be as hard on us as you
like…”.
Oh, boy oh boy oh boy! Here is a man after my own heart – it was
almost as if they were begging me to do my worst.. It’s just a
shame Bogart didn’t give me a reason to break out the cross and
nails with their second album,
Waiting For Something To Happen. It features an aural
document of a bar band trying to make it big – and they put forth a
valiant effort.
Vocalist Earl Russel leads this five-piece Canadian group
through some well-crafted originals, and while there are one or two
clunkers along the way, the remainder of the album shows off some
fine songwriting and the results of over a decade of slugging it
out on the road. With the addition of drummer Ron Mohr, Bogart
seemed to tighten as a band even more than on their debut
Ock. Keyboardist Denis Pion and guitarist Galczyk provide a
solid rhythm section, and while bassist Lawrence Deslauriers adds
to the mix, his one opportunity to shine on “Don’t Hold Back” is
all but wasted as he keeps playing a basic rhythm.
Bogart shows the power of their own material on cuts like “Dance
To The Dance,” which could do quite well on adult-contemporary
radio if stations would take a chance on a band not signed to a
major label, and “Wash It All Away.” Galczyk creates some danceable
rhythms with his creative riffing on “Don’t Hold Back,” and shows
his talents on both acoustic and electric guitar throughout the
album.
Waiting For Something To Happen runs the gamut of styles,
from love-ballads like “Yesterday’s Love” to all-out boogie on
“Last Chance Romance” to thoughtful tunes like “One Friday In May.”
And unlike many major-label bands, they are able to pull off this
shift in genre almost seamlessly – in fact, it seems like the band
would suffer if they were forced to stick with one style.
Even a song like “Love Is A Four-Letter Word” is just as good as
many of the songs I hear on the radio day in and day out – the
difference being that Bogart is still struggling to get attention
on the airwaves. Russel and crew have almost mastered the genre op
power-pop.
But while this album shows a lot of promise, there are a few
bumps along the way. “Over 18 Under 65” could have been a great
song (and seeing the self-deprecating humor of the band members in
their press kit, could have even been quite funny), it just fails
to develop. A few other songs, like “Tribute To Rock ‘N Roll,”
reflect a little too much on their bar band past – it’s one thing
to respect your roots, it’s another to play the sycophant to
them.
And then there is the cover, the song that epitomizes every
struggling band, “Smoke On The Water” – AAAAARGGGH, nononononono!
While Bogart does a decent job on it (even with a second guitar
part dubbed on – unless someone else handled the guitar and I can’t
see it in the credits), it hardly seemed necessary to cover one of
the best-known rock songs when the rest of the album could have
stood under its own power.
Still, this is a very promising group who, with the right
A&R rep at a label reading this review, have a decent chance of
breaking out of Canada and making a name for themselves.
Waiting For Something To Happen is a well-crafted album from
road-scarred veterans – and with the right break, they may not be
waiting much longer.