The English four-piece
Grand Drive
takes note from its
alt-country
counterparts (
Wilco
,
Whiskeytown
) and derives a sun-soaked
Americana
sound all its own on the band's self-titled U.S. debut.
, which marks the quartet's first stateside release, collects 13 tracks from the group's three previous albums --
Road Music
(1999),
True Love and High Adventure
(2000), and
See the Morning In
(2002) -- originally issued on
BMG
in the U.K., highlighting a lilting mix of
soul
folk
, and
country
. Brothers
Danny
and
Julian Wilson
are a solid musical pair; as songwriters, they're quick-witted and smart, and as musicians, they're exact and simple in shaping up classic bits of
rock & roll
. From the
blue-eyed soul
of
"Needle in the Groove"
to the honeyed acoustics of
"Firefly,"
composes an honest, laid-back sound. Fiddles shyly chime throughout the bittersweet
"A Little Like You,"
while
"Sleepy"
captures slow dancin' with classic '60s
-
pop
.
makes its biggest
rock
effort yet on
"Tell It Like It Is."
Like the majority of the album, its piano-driven, feel-good classic
sound glows with a passion similar to
Bruce Springsteen
Neil Young
. The members of
are earnest and pure with their craft, honing what's musically tried and true to them as a band. In the process, they recorded a pleasurable set of songs. Not bad for a bunch of Australian boys raised in London. ~ MacKenzie Wilson