This album opens with "Everybody's Gotta Get Some." If I didn't know any better, I would swear these guys are from middle America. This song especially reminds me of a combination of Hum and a Columbus, Ohio, band called Preston Furman. This song, a punchy guitar-driven song that weighs in at less than two minutes, is a good start to the album.They follow up with "Don't Leave Me Alone Tonight," my favorite song on the album. This song reminds me of Live. The song, featuring some excellent drumming, is mellower the opener, but it finishes with a crescendo that stays with you.
I have mixed feelings about "We Almost Lost the World." Don't get me wrong. The song itself is quite good. But the interlude of various sound clips right in the middle of the song really breaks the mood. The song cruises along, then there is this burst of sound clips, then finishes. I think the sound clips are really out of place. It would be much stronger if the song continued straight through to the end.
There is a homespun feel to this album that I really like. You can tell that these guys invested a lot of time and effort getting this CD out on their own. The Friction Brothers range from the mellow mood of "Don't Leave Me Alone Tonight" to a ripping instrumental in "I'm Sorry I Ever Felt That Way," which is an interesting song because it finishes with the sort of jam Clutch does in their live performances. They also range from songs shorter than three minutes to epics of eight ("The Big Thing") and almost nine ("I'm Sorry I Ever Felt That Way") minutes. Every song is good. It's the sort of CD where you can crank the volume and put it on repeat.
