Like most of us on the fringes of the music scene, I have
\nwondered a few times what I might call a band foolish enough to let
\nme be a member. “The Suckers” is probably taken. But given my
\naversion to shock-rock, I sincerely doubt I’d go the gross-out
\nroute. I really don’t want the first thing people think when they
\nhear my stage name to be: “Yuck.”<\/p>\n
Which was pretty much my reaction when I first saw the name
\nPinkeye D’Gekko. What I found inside, though, was at least more
\nintriguing than the name might lead you to expect.<\/p>\n
Pinkeye is a sharp five-man ensemble led by
\nsinger\/songwriter\/producer Steve Richards Mahoney, whose approach
\nto music is sufficiently chameleon-like to give some truth to the
\nlatter half of this group’s name. My impression based on the first
\nfour tracks here was Molly Hatchet and Elvin Bishop throwing a
\nparty for Meat Loaf — greasy Southern boogie rock with a flair for
\ntheatrics, and respectably well done at that.<\/p>\n
But then we get to “Call Me Adolf During Wartime,” which sounds
\nvaguely, disturbingly, like a lost Marilyn Manson number\u2026
\nfollowed by “The Poet,” a freaky Moody Blues-Dionne Warwick
\nmind-meld\u2026 followed by “See You Again,” cheeky power-pop
\nthat seems to be trying to answer the question “what if Nick Lowe
\njoined the Monkees?”<\/p>\n
By the time I got to the Stonesy country-rock of “Listen In
\nLove” (think “Tumbling Dice” with an acid twist) and “Slow Down,”
\nan homage to early rock and roll that’s fueled by the spirit of
\nBill Haley & the Comets, I was scratching my head. I admire
\nmusical versatility as much as the next guy, but what’s the thread
\nrunning through these songs that ties them all together?<\/p>\n
In the liner notes, Mahoney says all his songs are about “God
\nand women,” and I’ve read an interview or two where he expands on
\nthis thought. But truly, it’s a reach to detect the spiritual
\nundercurrents Mahoney claims are there until you get to the closing
\ntrio of “Have U Seen The Genie,” “The Velvet Fizz” and “Missing.”
\nThe rest of the time, the clearest thread I see is pure showmanship
\n— as in, “look what we can do.”<\/p>\n
Is it impressive? Mostly. Fulfilling? Moderately. Memorable? Not
\nexactly. To these ears, this is a collection of pretty decent songs
\nthat don’t quite add up. What these guys appear to need — besides
\na name that doesn’t immediately make people want to call their
\npharmacist — is an outside producer to help give their ideas and
\nenergy better focus.<\/p>\n
Not that I would expect my opinion to have much impact on any
\nband, let alone one that leads with this much flash and confidence
\n(and, I understand, just scored an opening slot with Lynyrd Skynyrd
\nthis summer). I just call ’em like I hear ’em. As Jimmy Buffett
\nonce said, “It’s my job\u2026”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":27103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7177],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-38438","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-pinkeye-dgekko","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38438"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}