Lucid Records
2005
Living In Blue
About This Album
Yet more retro-boogie rock & roll, triangulated approximately between Jet, the Datsuns and My Morning Jacket (in other words, copping licks about equally from vintage Rolling Stones, garage rock and Neil Young & Crazy Horse), the Blackouts' second album is amiable, fitfully entertaining but fundamentally uninspiring. The songs are entirely competent bar band rock, but there's a curious lack of immediacy to the proceedings; songs like the Dream Syndicate-like twangy choogle "Open Casket Access" clearly want to kick out the jams, but Steve Ucherek's lightweight mumble of a voice sounds permanently stuck in Julian Casablancas-style boredom, and he drags the rest of the band down to the same not-quite-there level. One hopes they're better live. (In late 2004, the Illinois-based Blackouts signed to Chicago indie Minty Fresh and changed their name to Living Blue to avoid confusion with a similarly-named band.) ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
Track List (try tracks 1,3,4 and 10)

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