mick kidd
Reviewed by: Chelsea Sinnott
Published: 27 April 2011
ep: quick six-pack attack!
Mick Kidd’s second release following his debut solo album in 2009 is a collection of bluesy, rock ballads that have a quintessential Aussie flavour in both the lyrics and the guitar sounds.
Opener ‘ (You Don’t Know) Shit From Clay’ has a reasonably interesting opening hook which immediately brings to mind fellow ‘Australian sounding’ artists like Ash Grunwald, John Butler and Xavier Rudd. Unfortunately it’s evident early on in this release that the musical diversity that the artists succeeding in this genre currently, aren’t present in Mick Kidd’s song writing.
‘(You Don’t Know) Shit From Clay’ is a straight 12 bar blues song and while ‘It’s all worth it’ has some moments of ingenuity in its guitar, the straight out repetitiveness of the vocal lines on this release just let it down. 'When My Old Dog Died' has some nice, bluesy harmonica lines and is on ode to the mateship between a man and a dog which holds a candle to some of Henry Lawson’s ideologies about Australian relationships.
The fourth track on this release ‘School Time Blues’ doesn’t really suit the rest of the songs lyrically. While the sameness of the blues lines is evident, the lyrics seem targeted at a much, much younger audience thaN would be listening to songs like 'Shit From Clay'. The song references Facebook with the blues, and like an awkward teenager, it just doesn’t seem to fit in.
‘Here Today, Gone Tomorrow’ sees the EP get back into familiar territory and is a little more dynamic than its predecessors. Mick strays from the invariability of the straight blues tracks and the percussiveness of the vocals mixed with the guitar makes for a great track.
Finally ‘Everytime (I’m Looking @ You)’ rounds out Quick Six-Pack Attack. It’s a warm and friendly little ditty with a strong melody, but again I can’t help but notice the sameness of the lyrics and the vocal lines.
There are a lot of nice parts to these songs, the ideas just seem to be carried a little too far for a little too long.
