[rating=6.00]
Touted as something of a ‘super-group’ based on the presence of Jackie Greene, Joan Osborne and Steve Gorman, the bonding of those relatively high-profile individuals with guitarist Tom Bukovac and bassist Nick Govrik leverages a fair amount of collective talent. Trigger Hippy doesn’t rest on its laurels, but this first recording of theirs finds them perhaps a bit too comfortably ensconced in the sounds and styles of its antecedents.
The well-chosen opening number “Rise Up Singing,” evokes the Grateful Dead oeuvre of which Greene and Osborne have been a part as much as “Turpentine” hearkens to the retro-guitarisms of the Black Crowes, with whom Greene toured last year. Laudably though, Osborne is beautifully restrained in her vocals on the former, pairing effectively with Greene’s own singing, while Gorman supplies the same virtue here as he always has with the Crowes: a firm but fluid underpinning that elevates the entire sound of the group.
In particular when Jackie Greene is at the forefront of a cut such as “Heartache on the Line,” there’s no question about the skills brought to bear on this judiciously produced recording (he is simply the most versatile musician of the group). Not surprisingly, the most potent numbers here are those like “Dry County,” where craftsman-like songwriting ignites through almost equal participation of each band member. Greene and Osborne’s voices mesh tunefully here, while Gorman kicks things along with no small amount of gusto and the sturdy playing of Bukovac and Govrik bonds the unit.
In fact, Trigger Hippy reside within a poised comfort zone that most units don’t reach on their first recording effort. Yet the sequence of the eleven tracks on the inaugural record too narrowly circumscribes their sound as it alternates quasi-soul with the hard rock of Osborne’s borderline raunchy “Cave Hill Cemetery.” More folk-rock oriented songs from the likes of “Sweet Mess,” which Greene mastered on his own records Gone Wanderin’ and Sweet Somewhere Bound, logically expand the dynamics of the quintet, so it’d behoove Gorman, the prime mover of the group since it’s somewhat casual inception in 2009, to encourage a progression in that direction.
Adding to the chemistry here is the abundance of collaborative songwriting, but Bukovac should allow someone else to sing songs of his such as “Adelaide,” a fine closer to the album apart from his nondescript voice. The appearance of harmonica here courtesy of Greene, the most versatile musician in the lineup, suggests another potential expansion of the eclectic Trigger Hippy approach in the form of horns that would further authenticate the r&b influences in the composing and playing. Then, the titles of the otherwise hard-hitting tracks “Nothing New,” and to a similar extent,” Ain’t Persuaded Yet,” wouldn’t be so unintentionally (and accurately) self-referential.
