Danish/ German outfit ONE BAR TOWN previously released a couple of impressively full-blooded electric roots-rock albums on Lubeck's Twah! label, but with "Boy Scout Songs" they've stripped it down to make a fine acoustic-based album which may be lower in wattage, yet raises the bar in terms of songwriting and performance.
Indeed, "Boy Scout Songs" is refreshingly free of weak links and makes for a gripping 37 minutes. The predominantly acoustic setting is a fine showcase for both frontman/ lyricist Kent Neilsen's emotive, keening vocals and some adroit and intuitive playing from his talented cohorts. Stylistically, it's still broadly roots-inclined rock/ folk the band specialise in, but they clearly revel in the deviations along the way as these ten diverse selections ably demonstrate.
The abum opens with arguably your reviewer's favourite track, "Man From A Steeltown": a resonant, bluesy and heartfelt tribute to late Skids/ Big Country man Stuart Adamson. Neilsen's vocals are tough'n'tender and - as a huge Adamson fan myself - it's difficult not to well up when Kent sings: "His songs, his voice, his guitar were a comfort in my worst years." Blub. Yeah, well I know where you're coming from there Kent, for sure.
However good this track is, though, it still fails to eclipse the excellence of the remainder of the album. Indeed, a brace of highlights come haring through in "...Steeltown"s wake, thanks to "30 Skeletons", "Radio Tucson Revisited" and "Sorry." "30 Skeletons" is a souped-up bluegrass/ skiffle hybrid stuffed with mandolin. It's played with an infectious, punky energy and comes on like the most irresistible of hoedowns. At a tangent, "Radio Tucson Revisited" has vivid, Calexico-style twists with lots of lap steel, baritone guitar and diablo-fuelled vocals. It's also truly sublime, as is the darker, folkier "Sorry", which has an ecological bent, droning cello sweeping in and Neilsen delivering the song in an uncanny, Michael Stipe-ish timbre.
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Elsewhere, One Bar Town prove they can still rock, even without the Marshalls cranked up to 11. The (almost) title track, "Boy Scout Song" comes with a meaty, a cappella intro and swells into a mandolin-led punky strut with vicious vocals. It sounds curiously akin to a folkier take of The Standells blues/punk energy to these overworked ears, if you can possibly cut me that much slack. "Elvis In Munich", too, successfully lassoos low-riding rock'n'roll and appears to be about spotting The King working at a cappucino bar in the Bavarian capital. Guess it beats working down the chip shop, dunnit?
And, just to further show off their diversity, OBT also make a decent fist of playing the 'plaintive ballad' card. To this end, check out both "Johanna" - the kind of lovelorn'n'experienced set-piece Ryan Adams once excelled in - and the closing "Fall Girl". This latter is the album's one non-original, and is a cover of Canadian singer/ songwriter Wendy McNeill's tune. Your reviewer must confess shocking ignorance of the original, but certainly in OBT's capable hands it's a thing of sparse, crestfallen beauty and the kind've thing Jesse Malin could have pulled off with similar aplomb.
"Boy Scout Songs", then, may be economic in terms of electricity, but still makes like joyous, celebratory roots-rock that never fails to convince. It's filler-free and mostly rather fantastic and - even in this limited edition mail order capacity - can only continue to enhance One Bar Town's burgeoning reputation.
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