[rating=4.00]
Having opened for Wilco and Meat Puppets among others, this Minnesota band makes a huge impression with album number two. The trio of drummer Eric Pollard, bassist Steve Garrington and singer/guitarist Alan Sparhawk kick things off with an endearing slow-burner “Hide It Away” evoking a blend of Explosions In The Sky and Coldplay. From there, songs such as the beefy, psychedelic-tinged “Your Bird” and the hook-laden, foot-stomping, punchy pearl “Workin’ Hard.”
Two of the ten songs – “‘68 Comback” and “The Last Of The Blue Dream” — are nothing more than brief interludes which could have been flushed out, but Retribution Gospel Choir earn their keep with the winding, trippy, Syd-era Floyd “Poor Man’s Daughter.” But it’s that mix of the psychedelica with pop that results in such an engaging record, with the tight “White Wolf” that falls on the same shelf of Fastball (remember Fastball?) giving way later on to the massive, guitar-fuelled jam aptly dubbed “Electric Guitar.” For this band, "3" may not be the charm after all.
