Medicine Ball - Fresh Ape

  by Andrew Carver

published: 24 / 5 / 2002

Label: Rubric
Format: CD

intro

"Diverse, quality effort of mildly psychedelic rock" with touches of country and pop thrown in from long serving group from Rhode Island back with a fourth offering

Medicine Ball are a journeyman band from the tiny state of Rhode Island. They’ve been going for at least a decade and 'Fresh Ape' is their fourth album. The band’s two guitarists and bassist all write songs, and sing their own compositions. Medicine Ball hit their stride early with 'Jet Black', which features marching band drums, crunchy guitar with a great tremolo riff, relaxed lead vocals and great harmonies, somewhat reminiscent of the Byrds. None of the album’s other songs reach the high of that first track, but they’re all at least good. 'Not Love' has the same promising musical backing and great harmonies, and some nice keyboards to boot, but the lead vocals seem a little on the thin side. Other songs are coloured with pedal steel ('Sticky Sweet” and “”) — not enough to take the album into No Depression territory though. 'Fireworks',  for example, starts off with atmospheric string bending and strumming acoustic guitar. The riffs on 'Hit' also have a countryish air,  with electric keyboards at the end putting a different spin on things. There are also some psychedelic touches, such as the backward guitar on 'Breakfast Served All Day'  — psychedelia of the late ’60s variety, that is, no full scale acid freakouts here. Thematically, a lot of the songs seem to dwell on love (and consequent failure of the same). Having three songwriters goes a long way to sparing the band easy comparisons with other acts; the wiggly keyboards on 'Turning 31' offers a prime demonstration of the group’s departure from the alt-rock norm. The band seems to operate on a ’60s template, but updates the sound with  some ’70s guitar crunch, ’80s keyboards and ’90s alt-country flare. Clear production and strong songwriting make for a diverse, quality effort of mildly psychedelic rock  — and a wee touch of country and pop — which holds up very well to repeat listening.

Track Listing:-