The Blazing Elwoods are the country project of Sudbury-based singer-songwriter Brent Wohlberg. His new album, Don't Sell the Car, is a variety-show collection of thrown together songs featuring musical guests and predictable outcomes. The Blazing Elwoods are, in reality, a group of talented musicians composing unimaginative country pieces with little bite and less resonance.
Every song on Don't Sell the Car was evidently crafted in careful, cookie-cutter fashion, often borrowing identical instrumentation and arrangement from Canadian predecessors. The lyrics are forcefully obvious and genre-specific, lacking any effective hooks for a listener to hang their hat on. With tracks often suffering from over-eagerness, Wohlberg's best recording on the album is the slow-down title track. While other songs like "Tractor" and "Big Red Rooster" have a Red-Green charm, "Don't Sell the Car" has the most power. There is joy in their playing and banter but, despite a few strong offerings, the album suffers from a lack of style and the results are ambiguous and vague.
Don't Sell the Car is an appropriate title; the parts involved in The Blazing Elwoods project have the talent to create a fine vehicle but are without creative direction. The platitudinous themes lack necessary poignancy and the songs are deprived of a tangibly exciting destination. Wohlberg and friends will need to keep driving before they reach that elusive country milestone and will need all of their inspired gas to get there.
(Independent)Every song on Don't Sell the Car was evidently crafted in careful, cookie-cutter fashion, often borrowing identical instrumentation and arrangement from Canadian predecessors. The lyrics are forcefully obvious and genre-specific, lacking any effective hooks for a listener to hang their hat on. With tracks often suffering from over-eagerness, Wohlberg's best recording on the album is the slow-down title track. While other songs like "Tractor" and "Big Red Rooster" have a Red-Green charm, "Don't Sell the Car" has the most power. There is joy in their playing and banter but, despite a few strong offerings, the album suffers from a lack of style and the results are ambiguous and vague.
Don't Sell the Car is an appropriate title; the parts involved in The Blazing Elwoods project have the talent to create a fine vehicle but are without creative direction. The platitudinous themes lack necessary poignancy and the songs are deprived of a tangibly exciting destination. Wohlberg and friends will need to keep driving before they reach that elusive country milestone and will need all of their inspired gas to get there.