Brash Music
2005
Tragic City
About This Album
Taylor Hollingsworth gets his first full-length off to a rip-roaring start. A vibrant mix of Sticky Fingers-era Rolling Stones and Pleased to Meet Me Replacements courses through the standout rave-ups, "Take the Money," "Little Queenie," "Duct Taped Heart," and "How Could You Be So Cold," that populate the album's opening half. You can almost hear the clink of cheap beer bottles and the smell of cigarettes on these barroom rockers, which instantly grab the listeners' attention. Hollingsworth, however, isn't able to maintain this red-hot momentum. His acoustic rendition of Jimmie Rodgers' "Gambling Barroom Blues" literally slows the pace down. And while it is full of bluesy New Orleans atmosphere, it lacks the sense of gravity to make it sound convincing. Part of the problem is Hollingsworth's voice. At its best, he sounds like a weaker-voiced Paul Westerberg or, as on a tune like "Head on Collision," Peter Perrett from the early U.K. pop-punk outfit the Only Ones. At his worst, Hollingsworth's nasally voice comes off as more grating than ingratiating. The other shortcoming that surfaces more prominently in the disc's second half is Hollingsworth's propensity for guitar histrionics.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,4,5,10 and 11)

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