Jefferson Pepper
American Evolution II
American Fallout Records

As promised from the unstoppable Pepper, here's the second album in his trilogy about the American Evolution. He has surely taken on a huge task, going from before the Civil War on the first of these albums (his second) and moving on through WWII to the late 90's on this second. Unfortunately, I've kind of grown tired already. It was a fascinating project to begin with, but now it's not so easy to go along with him. First problem is that the songs don't stand out from each other, second that the lyrics strike me as way too naïve. It was kind of cute on the first one. Now I'm wanting more. Besides, nothing really kicks me in the side, saying that I should really listen. Which I suspect is his main goal with this project. The production is weak, the soundscape a bit too tame and the instrumentation not very interesting - in spite of contributions from greats such as Fats Kaplin and Tim Lorsch.

I know I've been down these lines before while talking about Pepper, but he is still too kind to get through to me. I know he wants to kick ass, but I am safely seated still.

Copyright © 2008 Anders Svendsen