1960's influenced pop with classic rock, psychedelic, and soul leanings

10 MP3 Songs
ROCK: 60's Rock, ROCK: Psychedelic



Details:
The Silver Lining "Well Dressed Blues"
All songs written by Matt Rhodes

Produced and engineered by Tony Goddess (Papas Fritas, Guster, Rudds)

Recorded at Bang a Sound and Fleetwood Recording Studios (The Shaggs "Philosophy of the World")

Mixed by Adam Taylor at Camp St. Studios (Radiohead, Dinosaur Jr., Dresden Dolls)

Somewhere along the line, Rock World (tm) went terribly wrong. Vocals became lazy and stylized, rhythm stopped swinging, and writing a vibrant, catchy, and emotionally resonant tune ranked a distant second to winking hipster cache and the guise of experimentalism. As an aesthetic of elitism, snark, and irony replaced high ideals and genuine enthusiasm, rock lost some of its driving populist impact as a cultural force. The Silver Lining are an antidote to this malaise. Their unique lyrics, wedded to idiosyncratic melodies, which are in turn supported by gorgeous male/female harmonies, danceable rhythms, and shifting instrumental textures, create an alternate universe where the bright days of the Summer of Love, Swinging London and the Brill Building come together with the dark nights of the Sunset Strip and Altamont in a fresh sound that should move music fans of any decade, especially those who recognize and revel in the complex core lying beneath the smooth exterior of so many classic pop hits.

The seeds of the band were sown during Thanksgiving 2003 when Matt Rhodes (ex Derelict Brew) and Anna Price (ex Sorry Jar) met on a Greyhound bus from Boston to Rochester, NY. Within minutes of striking up a conversation, the two realized they shared an archivist's obsession with classic rock and pop, as well as an abiding belief in the power of music to save humanity's collective soul. They spent the entire ride falling passionately in like with one another, and shortly thereafter embarked on a musical collaboration. The two married in August of 2005, honeymooning in New Orleans and narrowly escaping Katrina on the last plane out before the hurricane hit land.

After a few months of performing with revolving bandmates, Matt and Anna hooked up with bassist Greg Radawich who had made a name for himself playing bass for the psyche-pop garage outfit The Punk Monkees and beloved Boston country-rock band, The Darlings with whom he has shared bills with such names as Tom Petty, Lucinda Williams, The Derlailers, and The Bottlerockets. Greg helped crystallize Anna and Matt's original vision by supporting the Silver Lining's melodies with innovative and driving rhythms. Shortly thereafter, Doug Fuller became the band's fulltime drummer. Doug proved himself to be the perfect anchor and foil, instinctively understanding the rhythmic nuances of each song. The four clicked intuitively and played gigs in earnest, eventually welcoming to the fold Greg's old Punk Monkees bandmate, the fantastic Ted Collins on keyboards. Besides being a former Punk Monkee, Ted was an integral member of Bob and the Dkheads, and the Oxycontinentals and contributed keys on Eileen Rose's last record, "Come the Storm", and The Confidence Men's "Love and Bombs."

Once the quintet was solidified, a local buzz spread, leading to nominations in several categories of the 2005 Noise Poll, including Best Local Female Singer (Anna Price) and Best Local Bassist (Greg Radawich).

In the summer of 2005, The Silver Lining began collaborating with pop guru extraordinaire, Tony Goddess (Papas Fritas, Guster, Rudds) At the helm as producer and engineer Goddess focused the band's sound, capturing a bright and open-hearted husband/wife vocal blend that recalls the Mamas and Papas while shaded with the dissonant chord changes and raw guitar solos of the Jefferson Airplane. From the opening call to arms against homogeneity "Cemented Steps", to the stone groove of "In the Future", the bitter bubblegum of the title track, through the depths of despair conjured in "Nosedive" and the final transcendence of "The Death Song" the record adds up to a bravely humanist outpouring of empathy, idealism and passion in the face of today's mechanical, misanthropic culture, musical or otherwise.

Recorded at Revere, MA's Fleetwood Recording Studios, birthplace of the Shaggs' Philosophy of the World, and Goddess' Bang a Sound and mixed at Paul Q. Kolderie's legendary Camp St. Studios, "Well Dressed Blues" will be released June 6, 2006 to coincide with the band's month long residency at Somerville's Abbey Lounge, and to be followed by tours of the North East, allowing the Silver Lining to spread their message of pop redemption to all.


***
It's rare to hear a debut album that sounds as fully-realized as the the Silver Lining 's note-perfect, Tony Goddess-produced Well Dressed Blues, which already already has folks describing them as the US's answer to Magic Numbers. Fronted by co-singing husband-and-wife team of Anna Price and Matt Rhodes, the group nails joyous '60s pop like no one we've heard in years.

The Boston Phoenix

Well Dressed Blues, the Silver Linings self-released full-length debut... is quite simply, unlike anything youre likely to hear from a Boston band this year, or have likely heard from a contemporary band in a very long time. Expertly produced and engineered by Papas Fritas/Rudds member Tony Goddess, Blues is front-loaded with brightly gilded boy-girl harmonies that, yes, hark back to the Airplane, the Mamas and the Papas, and the Association. The groups transistor-radio pop also carries a dash of the Turtles and the Something Else era Kinks... Whats remarkable about Well Dressed Blues is how fresh it all sounds as an antidote to the troubled, politically divisive times were living in. The album works as both a balm and an escape.

--Jonathan Perry, Stuff at Night

The Silver Lining recall those Saturday afternoons driving around in your parents slant-6 Dodge Dart with that glowing A.M.-radio pop kicking out of the single front speaker. Matt Rhodes tasteful guitar panache and Brill-bent songwriting prowess, along with Anna Prices harmonies and full-on wails, will propel their forthcoming debut Well Dressed Blues, produced by Tony Goddess (Rudds, ex-Papas Fritas), to local if not national breakout status.

--Selene Angier, The Boston Metro

The cuddly lady and long haired lad may bring pop stars The Magic Numbers to mind, but this American act sound far more like the Cali-influences the Numbers purport to have. This demo was recorded in a big studio and the production is pretty nice although indebted to everyone from The Association through to Alice Cooper theres enough of the modern age about this cool harmony rock band to break through. For cats like us though, the songcraft and arrangements of the late 60s are very much in evidence. A little bit rockier than sunshine pop per se with some nice touches. I dig it.

--Shindig!

The Silver Lining is not really a subtle band, and Id like to see the technology that could drown out these vocals. Soaring, powerful, turbocharged vocals. The combination of a sweet tenor and a power alto makes for gorgeous harmonies; Im reminded a little of Lennon and McCartney at a couple of points. And when Anna really cuts loose and wails, its glorious. With excellent drumming and bass lines and tastefully flashy guitar solos, there is just absolutely nothing wrong with this set. Im especially impressed with a song called Well Dressed Blues, the lyrics to which seem delightfully dirty when I can make them out. And the last song has a slow, smokey Patti Smith intensity to it.

--Steve Giesselbrecht, The Noise

Matt Rhodes' brand of classic pop on songs like opener "Cemented Steps" is an inspired hybrid of LA psychesters The Merry Go Round and Victorian music-hall enthusiasts The Kinks. Anna Price's vocalizing on "Well Dressed Blues" evokes The Association and The Peanut Butter Conspiracy but the carnivalesque guitar line makes the song a splendid one-off... The band's sometimes harsh yoking together of disparate sub-genres actually works to their advantage, giving the songs unusual textures and grabby hooks: see the Southern rock guitar plus Beatles melodicism on "In the Future"; also see the brilliant waltz-rhythm coda to their ballad "Battered Senseless MIA Heart." TSL is neither revolutionary nor reactionary but evolutionary, fashioning splendidly colorful and worthy offshoots of the 1966-1972 era of psyche garage pop. If you're into The Hollies, The Turtles, and whatnot, you'll greet this release like a long-lost friend. If you've never heard of them, there's an introductory course right here.

Francis DiMenno, The Noise