Oh Little Red Bus, where do I even begin talking about you? This album is really a musical hodge-podge. There are a lot of different styles and feelings all thrown in with each other, which can work just fine, but in Joel Straup’s case there’s no fusion between those different styles.
The first track on the album, “Corporate America,” is incredibly socio-politically driven. Now, it’s not uncommon for folk music to have that kind of message behind it. This particular track, though, feels like it would be better suited to an angry punk band than to a middle-aged folk rocker.
Next up is “The Old Man’s Barn,” the focus of which is taking responsibility for one’s own actions instead of playing the blame-game. Looking just at the instrumental backing of the song, this is one of the best songs on Little Red Bus. However, there are times when the background vocals hit a very shrill, squeaky high note that does not mesh with the rest of the song in any way whatsoever, and makes an otherwise decent track almost unlistenable.
With the title track, “Little Red Bus,” the listener gets a song that has the feel of Raffi (Remember him? Children’s singer of the 70s, 80s and 90s?) for grownups. It’s peppy, a little silly (there are references to both Gilligan’s Island and Captain Kirk), and a lot of fun.
In just the first three tracks on this thirteen-track album, there are three different musical styles—and that doesn’t change as the album progresses. Straup delves into blues, a classic country feel, and more social commentary.
While the feeling of Little Red Bus is a bit inconsistent, Straup deserves major credit for his lyrical work—it’s really the thing that holds the album together. The same can’t be said for Straup’s voice, though. It’s extremely gruff, and occasionally hits the point of sounding more like growling than singing. It’s not the easiest voice on the ears, but it does grow on you after awhile. Particularly on the album’s mellower tracks (which are really the highlights of Little Red Bus), the roughness of Straup’s voice adds a nice soulfulness to the songs.
Little Red Bus isn’t a bad album—it just happens to be all over the board. Perhaps on future efforts, Straup can focus the sound he’s going for a bit more and give listeners an album that has more fluidity to it, rather than one that tends to feel a bit jumbled.
Hot Tracks: Little Red Bus, Main Street USA, New York to Kansas
June 1, 2010
