City Boy - Young Men Gone West

A while back I'd found City Boy's second album Dinner at the Ritz and I'd made a comment about being on the lookout for more of their stuff. Well, I didn't have to look that hard or wait that long. In addition to finding Young Men Gone West I also snagged a copy of Book Early, both of which have been patiently sitting waiting. There are others out there ... it's just a matter of time, and space ... I'll need more space soon.

Before the recording sessions started drummer Roger Kent left the band, and Tony Braunagel from Crawler was brought in to play on Young Men Gone West. The dual lead vocalists Lol Mason, and Steve Broughton were awesome and really worked off each other. Their voices are fairly similar but not entirely alike. Sort of like how people used to confuse Henley and Frey. Mike Slamer the band's guitarist has a lot of room to stretch throughout the album but never overplays or resorts to technical noodling for the sake of the noodle. The guy is a monster player, and has tone for days. I'm not sleeping on Max Thomas (keyboards) or Chris Dunn (bass) they're integral to the sound, it's just that I'm a guitar guy.

Robert John Lange came back and sat in the producer's chair and City Boy once again seemed to be oblivious to the conventions a rock and roll band was supposed to adhere to. One of the best descriptions I've seen to describe the band is art rock - not alternative, or progressive or pretentious rock. They were a rock band for sure, but they just seemed to be unfettered to pursue the music they wanted to play.

Of course, this does have a drawback, and even in the heady free for all that was the '70s, people seemed to appreciate a bit of consistency. I'm sort of painting myself into a corner here, and I'm not quite getting the point across I want to make and in the process I'm kind of shorting the band. City Boy may have put art in their rock, but they were first and foremost a rock band and they did respect the basic tropes. Solid vocals, big guitars, and tight crisp musicianship are on full display throughout the record. The band was adept and even within a song they'd occasionally slip in and out of a commercial groove. One of my favourite examples of taking a tangential turn within a song is "Dear Jean (I'm Nervous)" that contains some absolutely killer riffs and then slides into the I'm nervous section and then back to the main song. It is so good. There's a reason the original version of the record opened with this track. It sets the tone. So what happened in North America? The powers that be swapped "Bordello Night" and "Dear Jean" and while it's only these two songs that were meddled with it sets a different tone ... sort of, but not really so why bother to muck about with the order? I guess someone figured "Bordello Night" was single?

If you're familiar with the record you may be thinking, "The album isn't that quirky or artsy, what are you on about?" You'd be right, there are quite a few songs here that colour within the lines. However, the band stylistically doesn't seem to be repeating itself from song to song. The music is varied, but when they let loose these guys can rock. Maybe that's what I've been trying to say all along.

They also have a sense of humour. I've not heard too may songs like "The Man Who Ate His Car" which made me laugh. I remember as a kid my dad telling me about a guy who ate a volkswagon. I can't find anything out there to corroborate the story, and maybe these guys heard the same story. Timing lines up ... except I'm pretty sure they didn't hear it from my dad.

Regardless, Young Men Gone West is a remarkably cohesive experience even if it meanders stylistically on occasion. It's this diversity which is a big part of the band's charm. Regardless of the song it always seems to sound like City Boy which is a neat trick in an off itself.