[rating=9.00]
Philadelphia is a blue collar factory town whose inhabitants have a longstanding reputation for being a tough, hard-nosed sorta folk. So it should come as no surprise to learn the boys of Low Cut Connie call Philly home. Their brand of straightforward American rock and roll embodies the gritty, DIY ethos of the city, never falling back on cheap gimmicks or image and instead letting the music do the talking. Touring tirelessly, always with frontman Adam Weiner’s trusty upright piano “Shondra” in tow, Connie’s live performances have become the stuff of legend, known for being intimate, revelatory events with an emphasis on collective experience, inclusivity, and generally “getting weird” while also a refreshing reminder why Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love.
Dirty Pictures (part 2), available this Friday via the band’s own Contender Records, is the latest effort from the Connie gang, and as the title implies, it offers ten voyeuristic glimpses into the lives of Connie characters we have come to expect, from working-class heroes to working girls. This time around, the album also leans heavily towards a more personal touch with intimate, seemingly autobiographical songwriting that sets the record apart from previous releases and demonstrates a maturing, dare I say, “classier” sound.
Dirty Pictures opens in classic Connie fashion with the roadhouse rocker “All These Kids Are Way Too High”. The song presents a paradox in that it’s both a self-aware lyrical lamentation on playing to a crowd that’s too stoned and stupefied to let themselves cut loose while simultaneously an undeniably compelling track with dusty, backroad guitar riffs, piano pounding, and a driving drum beat. In the right setting it could tear the roof off a juke joint and will most assuredly make a welcomed addition to their live set that’ll have even the most inebriated of concert-goers moving and grooving.
A brief, cascading string arrangement serves as a transition into “Beverly”, and it’s the first hint at the slightly more sophisticated and reflective Low Cut Connie style that pervades throughout the remainder of the record. “Beverly” is a grandiose piano-centric power ballad with a layered wall of sound big enough to fill an arena, yet it still rocks hard at its core. Weiner bares it all with a pining vocal track written from the perspective of a desperate man who’s on his knees begging for the smallest form of affection from his disenchanted lover, complementing it with a beautifully melodic accompaniment on the keys. An equally high and lonesome lead line from guitarist James Everhart pulls the whole thing together while soaring backup vocals from Connie’s newest member Saundra Williams (formerly of Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings fame) give the song its lift. On an album brimming with enough hooks to make Tom Petty envious, it’s safe to say “Beverly” is the right choice for first single as it ranks right up there with the likes of power ballad masters such as Billy Joel and Bob Seger.
Similar sentimental themes are reflected in tracks like the soulful, downtempo R&B number “Every Time You Turn Around”, a rumination on the obsessive, inextricable quality of love, and the power pop number “Please Do Not Come Home”, which documents the trials and tribulations of setting out on tour while leaving a significant other alone at home (a struggle the Connie boys are all too familiar with). “Desegregation”, with it’s New Orleans style boogie-woogie piano, takes on racism with a lighthearted touch before Dirty Pictures comes to a close with an invigorated, percussion-driven cover of Alex Chilton’s “Hey! Little Child”, ending on a high and making the album easily one of the year’s finest.
