Tinstar (2000)
One of the things I really tried to do while I was record shopping in Tokyo was to try to behave like I did when I went to record stores in America as a younger man. What that means in the context of this review is that I picked up a handful of records simply because they looked cool or looked like the sort of thing I would enjoy. I bought two 7"s based on fonts alone. One of the bands I decided to check out on a whim was The Yellow Dogs.
The sleeve of this 7" and another one of theirs that I picked up just sort of grabbed my attention. It looked like a fun, power-poppy mod band and that seemed like the sort of thing I'd like to check out. What I didn't realize at the time was that all of the songs on both 7"s were covers. The Yellow Dogs absolutely seize a kind of ramped up 60's throwback vibe, though a large portion of that is because they are playing actual songs from that era.
The best song is also the lead off track, "Ooh! My Soul." It's a Little Richard cover that's sped up and played with a ton of energy and enthusiasm. It's a fun, though short listen. Next up is another rocker, "Lonesome Tears In My Eye." I'll admit I'm not quite as familiar with the original version of this song, but once again The Yellow Dogs deliver a pretty killer version of it. Last up is "Money (That's What I Want)." Truthfully, I've never really liked any version of this song over the years and The Yellow Dogs can't really save it either. The vocals drop to a weird growl and the song just kind of plods along.
This isn't really the victory I was hoping for when I just started grabbing some 7"s based on artwork. It's not bad at all and the first two songs are pretty good, all things considered. I just can't imagine it's the sort of thing I would end up listening to very often.
The Yellow Dogs - "Ooh! My Soul":
The Yellow Dogs - "Lonesome Tears Over You":
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