Earl Greyhound – Soft Targets

Earl Greyhound – Soft Targets / 2006 Some / 11 Tracks / http://www.earlgreyhound.com / http://www.some.com / Reviewed 12 November 2006

When I first saw the Earl Greyhound album, I was imagining that it would be indie rock, perhaps with a little funk thrown in. However, what ultimately results from "Soft Targets" is an album that blends equal parts Rage Against The Machine with King's X. The easiest comparison for Greyhound would have to be a modern day version of Jimi Hendrix, as the same guitar-focused rock (albeit a little harder in Greyhound’s context) is present in both artists.

A track like “S.O.S.” is five minutes long, and while most tracks that are fairly long that open up a disc are failures, the same cannot be said for this one. This is due to the fact that Greyhound here creates a track that has multiple movements, so that something that is happening in the second minute is not happening by the forth. The hard rock aspect of “S.O.S.” disappears for something that is more of a blend between Prince and Lenny Kravitz during “It’s Over”, but Greyhound adds a bass line that even Matt Freeman would be proud of. The fact that “It’s Over” is a track that has a late nineties alternative rock sound to it shows that Greyhound has the skills to play in a larger set of genres equally well. Doing this, there is no limit to the things that Greyhound can do with “Soft Targets”, and individuals can bvegin to realize this before the second track on the disc ends.

Individuals may be confused as to whether their disc is skipping during the opening of “Like A Doggy”, but it becomes evident just a half minute into the track that Greyhound was trying something completely different from what individuals would expect out of a track like “Like A Dog”. “Monkey” is a track that blends together the late sixties rock of the aforementioned Hendrix with the grinding rough rock of acts like Soundgarden to create a track at could be a hit in three different time frames. Earl Greyhound may be on a smallish record label now (Some), but given the right push, I could completely see eir opening up for Audioslave in a few years. The fact that each of the tracks on “Soft Target” could conceivably be on radio is another strength for Greyhound; buy this album if you have any love in your heart for rock music, whether it be the grunge of the nineties or the hard rock of the sixties.

Top Tracks: Monkey, It’s Over

Rating: 7.0/10

[JMcQ]