Rising from the ashes of the dearly departed Mary\u2019s Danish, drummer James Bradley Jr., bassist Wag and guitarist Dave King hooked up with former Red Hot Chili Peppers roadie Robbie Allen as lead guitarist and unknown singer Edward Anisko and together, they formed Rob Rule. Breaking from Mary\u2019s Danish\u2019s schizophrenic sound, the band aimed for a more streamlined approach, which featured more straight rock and less experimentation.<\/p>\n
The lead single, \u201cShe Gets Too High,\u201d is a slow-burner of a track, building to its greatest point. Managing to achieve some radio success, it became the band\u2019s calling card. A great Southern rock vibe permeates the whole album, mixing with a \u201890s alternative rock crunch that gave the band something distinctive to set them apart from the rest of the pack.<\/p>\n
The harmony vocals on \u201cFifteen\u201d hark back to \u201870s rock, which is a nice throwback to the past. The intricate balladry of \u201cAround Again\u201d should\u2019ve set the band up as one of the \u2018next big things\u2019 but alas, it was not to be. The guitar interplay between Allen and King is very good but as this is a more restrained effort, bassist Wag doesn\u2019t get to show off his mad skills as he had in Mary\u2019s Danish.<\/p>\n
\u201cNever\u201d is one of the weaker tracks present here, but three out of eleven ain\u2019t bad at all! \u201cFree For The Moment\u201d is more like it. This track is a showcase for everyone\u2019s skills, more of a free-flowing rocker that brings the band\u2019s intentions to the forefront. The absolute showstopper, however, is the ballad \u201cOnly Thing,\u201d written by Wag; simply said, it\u2019s one of those songs that stop the listener dead in their tracks! Many repeated listens later, the song still sounds fresh as ever and is guaranteed to bring a smile to anyone\u2019s face who loves great music.<\/p>\n
The production, courtesy of Don Gehman (best known for producing Mellencamp and Hootie & The Blowfish), packs all the right punches in all the right places and doesn\u2019t sound dated, even twenty years later. That\u2019s the sign of a great record: swift production, amazing musicians and some damn fine songs.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, towards the end of the record, the songs don\u2019t have the same tight grip that others had. \u201cPass It On\u201d and the useless cover of the Allman Brothers\u2019 classic \u201cMelissa\u201d do nothing to make the album any better and would\u2019ve been better to be left on the cutting room floor, confined to B-side heaven. \u201cChrome\u201d brings the record back \u2018round again, showcasing the guitars and Wag\u2019s thunderous bass. Anisko\u2019s voice, which sounds great all throughout the record, is soulful and gritty at the same time, perfectly suited for this type of material.<\/p>\n
The band had everything ready for them; they with Mellencamp and Candlebox, but by 1995, they had fallen apart and they all drifted off to their own projects. This album has long been out of print but deserves to be brought into the digital realm like Spotify or iTunes so that more people can discover how great this band and their one lone record really was!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":32073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[9465],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-43819","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-rob-rule","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43819","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\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=43819"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=43819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}