[rating=7.00]
Emerging roots-rock band The National Reserve will draw attention with this sophomore release Motel La Grange and their festival-filled spring and summer touring schedule. They aren’t exactly newcomers. Getting their start over five years ago as a bar band in Brooklyn, the band has honed their sound and songwriting to become a popular touring act and one that’s deserving of plenty of airplay with these jangling, melodic tunes that owe as much to Americana as to ‘70s vintage rock and pop. Like all strong roots music, there are elements of R&B, funk, late night soul, and raucous rock n’ roll.
According to frontman and multi-instrumentalist Sean Walsh, it took six years, on and off, with several re-recordings to make this record. It speaks to Walsh’s attention to detail and his quest for continual improvement, tracing back to his days as a solo artist. He just lives and breathes music and describes his band’s mission as lifting people up, letting them have fun. Corny as that may sound, the band delivers on that mission.
Some early descriptions described the band as “piano-driven” and you’ll hear that in the blues-tinged “Found Me a Woman.” In fact, this tune and “New Love”, as much as any, reflect their origins as a bar band – guitars, piano, organ, bass and drums rocking out. Even the lyrics – “one more sip of liquor, one more smoke before I go” carry that late night party vibe. Yet the band has a depth and breadth that far exceeds typical bar band fare. The George Harrison-like slide guitar in “Don’t Be Unkind” is a wonderful touch for that mid-tempo tune. The “Other Side of Love” features some soulful B3 soloing against the stomping chords and horns that hearken back to a ‘70s sound – somewhere between Question Mark and The Mysterions and The Average White Band.
Just about any rock n’ roll band reflects a Stones influence somewhere and the beginning sequence to “New Love” is reminiscent of “Honky Tonk Woman,” though the song quickly becomes more hook-driven then riff-driven as it unfolds. The title track begins at a ponderously slow ballad tempo with Walsh alone on vocals before he’s joined by a glorious chorus of singers that might evoke for some the kind of southern California sound popularized by Buffalo Springfield, Poco, and bands of that ilk. Close your eyes and you can easily picture an audience singing along with the band on that tune as well as its successor, “I’ll Go Blind.” “Roll On Babe” is a perfect closer, with a clean, reverberating guitar solo accenting a tune that’s ready made for a joyous road trip. In fact, the album at large carries an overriding “roll down the windows and let the wind blow back your hair” effect. Just be careful with your foot.
