Published on Mar 16, 2001
One of the more unsettling things about this job is that I get
the chance to hear groups I normally wouldn’t consider listening
to… only to find myself wondering why I didn’t discover them
before.
Such is the case with Galactic Cowboys, a group which shares a
kinship with labelmates King’s X. Their latest album
Let It Go reminds me a lot of King’s X, while allowing
Galactic Cowboys the room to develop their own spin on the
sound.
It would be too easy to draw comparisons between the two groups
Never mind the fact that King’s X drummer Jerry Gaskill appears on
this disc and Ty Tabor assisted with “tone generation”, whatever
that is. Never mind the fact that King’s X performed a song called
“Walter Bela Farkas” (named after one of the brainchilds behind
Galactic Cowboys) on their album
Tape Head. No, the greatest link between these two bands is
that they create music so unique that most people don’t know just
where they fit into the musical spectrum. Actually, we should be
thankful that such bands refuse to follow cookie-cutter practices,
even if record sales are sacrificed as a result.
In the case of
Let It Go, parallels can be drawn to King’s X with the rich,
layered harmony vocals, as well as to The Beatles for both the
vocals and the pop sensibility present throughout much of the
album. Tracks such as “Life And Times,” “Another Hill” and “hey
mr.” all serve as ample proof that Galactic Cowboys are a group who
easily could be superstars, if the right people were to only get
the fat out of their ears and listen.
Yet there is also a sense of humor (as well as social
responsibility) mixed into the work of Galactic Cowboys, evidenced
on “Disney’s Spinnin'”. If you don’t pay attention to the lyrics,
you might just write this one off as a humorous little ditty – but
there’s some powerful messages hidden behind the smile. Of course,
for each serious moment, you need a lighter side like “Boom!”
(featuring chants from Gaskill – the drum work being taken over by
Farkas and bandmate Ben Huggins).
Let It Go rings up success after success – with one major
exception. “The Record Ends” starts off cute enough as a fable
about both the end of a record and (more importantly) a
relationship. Everything is fine… until the listener is presented
with approximately nine minutes of cacaphony that sounds like The
Who trashing their stage show by throwing it into a wood chipper.
One, maybe two minutes’ worth of this, I could forgive… but by
the time the track hit the 12-minute mark, I was ready to rip the
speakers out of my stereo and send them out the window.
Despite this one misstep,
Let It Go is a disc which should make the listener wonder
why Galactic Cowboys haven’t caught on in a big way. The talent is
there, the songwriting is there… all that’s left is the huge
sales. And even with the debacle that closes the disc, this album
is one that deserves to be a smash on the charts.