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DVDfever.co.uk – Skygreen Leopards: Gorgeous Johnny CD reviewElly Roberts reviews
Cosmos Recordings
- Released: October 2009
- Rating: 8/10
- Vote and comment on this album:View Comments
California dreaming.
Stumbling across a new band (well, to me anyway) still remains a thrill. Ive never heard of the Skygreen Leopard before, so they come as a welcomed addition to my collection.
Anyway, the story goes something like this. A former (fringe) member Gorgeous Johnny was a phoney and self-confessed dandy who couldnt play anything, but according to sources, neither could the band, which, listen to this album is hard to believe. The Skygreen Leopards kept Johnny around purely for his fashion statements.
As it happens they neednt have worried about this impostor because since their debut album eight years ago theyve carved out a niche by writing exquisite songs embracing faux-folk, avant garde pop, reverb-drenched lo-fi psychedelia, plastic country and blurry ballads.The Californian duo Donovan Quinn and Glenn Donaldson have a knack of rolling out cute tunes and this time theyve unusually gone for a concept album about their so-called impostor. He must have been some character to devote an entire album to him.
As with many Californian bands, the shadow of Crosby Stills Nash and Young hangs over them. These well baked tunes hark back to a time when bands flourished on harmonies and melodies.
Setting the scene, a Byrds-like jangly guitar props-up instrumental Johnnys Theme accompanied by a nifty beat and Hammond-ish organ.Acoustic sweeps with piano provide the bed for Quinns fragile and tender vocals on the sunshine-stoner lo-fi ballad Margery.
Dixie Cups..could be The Kinks from circa 1970 with Quinns voice taking on a definite Ray Davies tonal warble. This has all the hallmarks for a single in the UK and Europe.For SGLs et al, Margery turns up again on the sparsest song here, a track that has their past tendencies to go into off-the-cuff mode, with the alt-folk template of say Devendra Banhart.
A similar Kinks mood prevails throughout the beefy Goodnight Anna while Quinn jollies along (in an early Marc Bolan take) to some strident edgy drumming and delicious harmonies hovering in the background.Massive chord slabs and a lazy thumping beat heralds the title track which could be the Rolling Stones from the mid-60s.
Its back to the CSN&Y influenced Inland Tale with massive dollops of La La La and that finely tuned jangly guitar texturising this happy-go-lucky tune.When TSL play it simple, like If Our Love Fails theyre simply awesome. This beat heavy track has plenty of hooks a stunning melody, fab harmonies, making it their strongest and most memorable song.
The verdict – Groovy.
Weblinks:skygreenleopards.com /myspace.com/cosmosrecordings /cosmosrecordings.com /myspace.com/skygreenleopards (Audio samples)
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Johnnys Theme
2. Margery
3. Dixie Cups In The Dead Grass
4. SGLs et al
5. Can Go Back
6. Goodnight Anna
7. Jehovah Will Never Come
8. Gorgeous Johnny
9. Inland Towns
10. Nine Car Train For Fremont
11. Robbers Lace
12. If Our Love Fails
13. Paid By The HourView the discussion thread.blog comments powered by Disqus= 0) {query += ‘url’ + i + ‘=’ + encodeURIComponent(links[i].href) + ‘&’;}}document.write(”);})();//]]]]>]]>
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.