Robert Temple and His Soulfolk Ensemble – What Would You Do? / 2005 Broken Pretzel / 13 Tracks / http://www.robertemplemusic.com / http://www.brokenpretzelmusic.com / Reviewed 16 July 2005
Robert Temple has some nice political leanings in eir music, but begins the disc by couching it in such an overdone style (one could really dub “Pretty Good Day” “Santana-rock”) that the message is obscured. This is the case during “Pretty Good Day”, while the follow-up track takes on the vocal style of Everlast, Tom Petty and even a little bit of Neil Young to come back stronger than the opening track. Finally impressing listeners with a full atmosphere (aided by a synth) during “Bomb Mendocino”, Robert Temple allows jazz and Latin influences to be tied into eir music to really draw listeners in. Interestingly enough, the brooding guitar and slightly-nasal vocals found during “What Has Asel Done” draws the disc into Warren Zevon-like delivery and narrative.
The coupling of Temple with a female voice on this track just solidifies this comparison and the listener’s bond to Robert Temple and His Soulfolk Ensemble. Some of the tracks do not contribute much to the overall feeling of the disc; “Connie and Frank” may have a solid political music, but is again obscured by a clichéd (this time Dave Matthews Band-esque) style. The middle of “What Would You Do?” has a serious issue in trying to bring itself over a similar-sounding rut. The slow tempo of “Forked Tongue”, coupled with the folky style that Temple pushes during the track, brings the disc back to relevancy. The incorporation of a country/native sound to “Forked Signals” continues a thread of walking to a different drum beat that is present throughout the disc, another strong point for “What Would You Do?”. Changing the style again for “Lift Us Up” to a more traditional brand of rock, Temple really has an ear for the needs and desires of eir listeners; it is just the arrangements and tendencies that Robert creates or works under that gets eir into trouble more than once on the disc.
Still, the bass/horn dynamic, along with the strong chorus on “Lift Us Up” does much to turn the disc’s spirits around. The disc is important for the fact that it pushes forth intelligent political commentary in a continually-morphing brand of music that for the most part is euphonic. However, there are some weaker tracks on “What Would You Do?” that weaken the integrity of the disc; there are intense tracks that unfortunately lose some of their impact based on the music they find themselves in close company with. If Temple could cut four or so tracks from this disc, what would result would be a very compelling album.
Top Tracks: Step By Step, Bomb Mendocino
Rating: 5.0/10