Swearing At Motorists

Swearing At Motorists seems caught halfway between Led Zepellin and fellow Dayton, Ohio natives Guided By Voices — halfway because the duo only go halfway to achieving their stadium rock ambitions, leaving half-baked ideas and half-fulfilled potential. At times their sensitive side betrays the S.A.M. duo of Dave Doughman and Don Thrasher, when they sound like the acoustic opening to a Zep tune without the bombastic follow-up. When their ideas seem wholly realised, like the stacked vocals and keyboard on “East of Biloxi,” S.A.M. reveal themselves to be interesting songwriters worth paying attention to. Some of the rest of More Songs leans to Crosby, Stills and Nash country-rock mellow at times, but the whole seems only half-finished.