by Dante Bettis
This weeks ensemble of music reviews begins with Catch 22 and their latest release, Alone In a Crowd . This CD contains 14 tracks of punk-rockish tunes with the groups signature horns in the background. Alone In a Crowd is the groups third CD, following Keasbey Nights and Washed Up . It was produced by Eric Rachel and the boys from good old Catch 22 themselves. Speaking of the good ol' boys, let me introduce them to you. First up is Jeff Davidson, who prides himself on heading up the groups vocals. Mike Soprano is the man blowing on the trombone. Ryan Eldred is taking care of the sax, while Pat Kays is strumming the bass. Pat Calpin is the man rocking out on the guitar. Chris Greer is the seated gentleman that can be seen beating on the drums and Kevin Gunther is splitting his time between the trumpet and vocals. Now that is out of the way, let's talk about their music.
Catch 22 can best be described as punk-rock, with influences ranging from swing to pure metal. They have an ability to mix these different forms of music, throw in some horns and rock the hell out of some songs. Jeff Davidson sings with quick vocals that fly by at a mile a minute, and are not only relatively legible, but also pretty damn good. "Bloomfield Ave." is a good example of Davidson's speedy vocals. The lyrics are well written and on most of the tracks are rather catchy too. The group does a good job of shifting from hard hitting punk-rock, to a pop-rock chorus and then to a swing time horns beat, all within one song. These tempo and style changes are in almost every track and make the music truly flow. "Point the Blame" is the bands feature single and should be on the radio in the weeks to come. The CD is mainly original music, but they do throw in a rocking cover of the Beach Boys song "I Wanna Go Home", that in my opinion is a vast improvement on the original. One of my favorite songs was "Hard to Impress". Anyone who has tried, without success, to impress a member of the opposite sex will appreciate it. The only song that slows the beat down is the title track, "Alone in a Crowd", which is almost pop-punk with an acoustic twist. Over all, these guys have an original sound that mixes various styles into a music that is in a class by itself. They have talented artists in every position and they just sound good. If you dig on some unique rock, or just appreciate a change, check out Catch 22 and look for the new CD.
