Hot Stove Jimmy

This album starts off with a lot of promise. "Ten Win," the opening track, has a gangster ska sound with great horns and keys, but eventually turns into a giant mess. As soon as Matt Irie, Hot Stove Jimmy's lead singer, appears on the disc everything goes downhill. It's not that he has a bad voice, it's just that the voice doesn't fit at all with the music. Another thing holding the band back is their unnecessary two guitarists. More attention should be given to the group's real talent, trumpet player Mark Beening and keyboardist Sam Ambrosini. Although there are 11 tracks on Theme For A Major Hit, the record doesn't get any better than the first song, which isn't so wonderful itself. The songs sound too choppy and muddled, which is a good way to describe the CD's liner notes as well. The lyrics are difficult to follow and more confusing than anything else. Very little information about the band is actually given, and the band's name is misspelled ("Hot Sotve Jimmy"). Even the album's art, pictures of futuristic fish, mice and cows, is confusing. The album's title, Theme For A Major Hit, is a little misleading. There's nothing on this disc that could even become a minor hit.