Natural Child
Dancin’ With Wolves
Burger Records
Street: 02.25
Natural Child = Tom Petty + Gram Parsons
Is this the Return of the Grievous Angel? Not quite. While the broad strokes of Cosmic American Music are present here, Natural Child come well short of Gram Parson’s territory, instead sounding like the fat trimmed off Exile on Main St. being gargled by Tom Petty. The vocals are constricted and tone deaf, especially on the second track, “Don’t the Time Pass Quickly,” a song about time-altering sex that not only didn’t pass quickly, it made time stand still for a moment—a moment I spent outside my body, like Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, contemplating my missteps and events that led me to listen to this shrill, hurried attempt at blues rock. Unlike good ol’ Scrooge, I remain as crotchety and cantankerous as ever. “Bah Humbug!” –Taylor Hale