Artist: Band of Skulls
Album: Baby Darling Doll Face Honey
Worth Buying: Every song
You might be interested in this album if you are a fan of: Led Zeppelin, Cream, 70's Blues Hard rock, Classic Rock, Nirvana, Alt Rock.
Tell Me More: In today's internet age, you often times only have 30 seconds or less to grab the attention of listeners. I have often said that it takes more than 30 seconds to know if you like a song and to know if it is good. And I still believe this to be true....but lately, it seems that I am discovering great artists through 30 second clips. Maybe I am just developing better ears, but some artists seem to be able to stand out even when all you get is 30 seconds. This is how I discovered Ryan Bingham and Gizzly Bear....and now this is how I discovered Band of Skulls latest.
I was looking at the Sunday ads for Best Buy's new release sales week, going down the line and just clicking on their corresponding samples on Amazon when I was struck by this album. It was only 7.99 at Best Buy so I went and picked it up.
The first song that hit my speakers was a Heavey Blues Rock infusion entitled "Light of the Morning". Right from the gate this song sounded like an updated version of Zeppelin and Cream.
Opening songs can really set the stage for an album and this song did just that. Band of Skulls draws a lot from 70's heavy blues rock bands but they keep a modern sensibility to them.
And Like a lot of heavy blues rock from the 70's they are also able to paint with more than just one color.....In other words, their songs don't all sound the same.
A good example is the album's 5th track. An acoustic folk ballad entitled "Honest". Listening to it you might think, "This is a different band". Now part of this is the fact that there is more than one lead singer in the band and one of them is a female (Bassist Emma Richardson). Both her and Guitarist Russell Marsden share the lead vocal duties.
This immediately got me thinking of Led Zeppelin's first album opening with the very heavy "Good Times Bad Times", then on the very second song following up with the Spanish classical acoustic song "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You". It was their way of saying, "Yes we are a very heavy band, Yes it's our first album....but we are free to go in any direction we want and you won't pin us down".
I got the same impression listening to the Band of Skulls. And I think we need more bands like this. Bands that say "Yes, we do have a sound, but we are also more than that too".
Band of Skulls is a power trio in the truest sense of he word (they are rounded out by Matthew Hayward on Drums). The CD version that I obtained from Best Buy came with two bonus live tracks. From these two track I can tell that this is a trio that can make a big sound and that they can deliver their studio album live.....This first album bodes well for them.
What about the Packaging? The Packaging is Beautiful! Comes in a mini album gate fold sleeve, but the CD is inserted in the outside of the interior of the sleeve so it looks like part of the interior album art. It comes with a nice lyric booklet that is easy to read. Top score on the packaging,
Sample and buy in MP3 Format for only 5.99 
(Prices subject to change)
Buy in CD format for 7.99 On Vinyl
Listen to more samples and get the Helplessness Blues on CD here
Listen to more samples and Get The Robert Johnson Centennial Collection here
Listen to more samples and get Oh Deer on CD 
Artist: Jen Bye 
School Country Worth Buying?: YES The Entire Album.