Hadacol - "Better Than This" (Checkered Past)

Album review by Danny Alexander

Produced by Springfield legend Lou Whitney (the Morrells, the Skeletons), *Better Than This* offers up twelve straight-forward, stream-lined rock songs that seem like old friends right off . . . . friends to keep an eye on. At first,the title track sounds like vengeance on all those people you know (and want to shake) who are never content no matter how good life treats them. Before long, you realize the perscription's not so simple; the compassion missing in the lyric is the heart of the problem. Perspective flips again with the following cut, "Big Tornado,"--the singer's irrational decision to let a storm take him if it wants him sounds so much more sane than the million worries that endlessly give everyone else ulcers and nerve damage.

Songwriting chores are shared by brothers Fred and Greg Wickham, and, while Fred definitely plays the role of (big brother) frontman, lead singer, primary songwriter, the quality of Greg's songs is equally strong. In fact, while Fred anchors the band's focus with a distinctive voice (reminiscent of John Prine, but with its very own moving quaver) and a unified songwriting style, Greg expands its reach with fighting songs like "Somebody Lied" and "Rebel Boys" and two of the album's most unforgettably haunted moments, "Drive All Night" and "Cheap Liquor" (the other being Fred's "Poorer Than Dead").

Perhaps the album's most unusual element comes dead center, with the transcendent "It'll Work Out Fine." Anyone who remembers vinyl recognizes the song as a side closer, pleading with the listener to pick up the needle and put it back at the beginning. Drummer Scott McCuiston and bassist Richard Burgess step out here, pumping this jangley rocker for all the glory of its sweaty dream--pushing the guitars into psychedelic frenzy and sending goosebumps up your body as you find you believe.

--Danny Alexander