The Naked Stills released their debut CD Cochecho late last year, and it’s an impressive amalgam of classic rock, blues, and folk born in the 1960s American music renaissance. There is a breezy, wide-ranging sense of expression in the vocals and instrumentation in all 12 tracks. There is also a much needed freshness in this music as it brings us back to a less pretentious time in rock. Earthiness abounds in every guitar sustain, drum fill, bass run, and vocal approach. It’s easy to picture this band finding support a 30 city bus tour.“Impossible” kicks off this album with bouncy, fuzzy guitar riffs and a lead vocalist who puts emotion above showiness. The authentic grit in the guitar rhythm is rooted in the past, when rock and roll meant something. The lead vocal’s belty sustains are vast projections of talent, but they stem from what the song needs, not a singer’s ego. The song is full of drive, verve, and style. It makes a listener feel like popping the disc into the dash and cruise the long highway.
Twisty rhythm guitar and a palpable rhythm section pull the listener into the mid-tempo flow of “Goodbye To Time.” Here, The Naked Stills create a wide, sweeping sonic landscape to conjure the emotion of letting go of the pressures of time. A lead guitar cuts through the classic rock vibe with a resonating crispness, vigorous, full of life.
The Naked Stills bop their way into “Let It Go” with a steady groove that’s packed with feeling and meaning. Lead vocalist Rocco DeRosa finesses his lyrics with a shiny soulfulness all his own. Frisky guitars prance and jump around beneath the vocal, punctuating the voice with resonating persistence. Throw in some subtle cymbal work and you have a first rate song.
“My Dreams” offers a touch of pop sensibility with gentle guitar notes tap dancing around the beat. DeRosa’s whispery soft vocal embraces and infuses this ditty with amicable warmth. It’s just a treat to hear him caress the tune while guitars assert their own personality and timbres. Drummer Doug Standley offers a lot of cleverness playing a mesh of things on the spacey ride out portion.
“Pennsylvania Skies” is a gliding piece of vocal bliss and jittery guitar phrases. It’s impossible not to get swept away on this soft cloud blown across the horizon on a summer wind. An edgy guitar lift off makes you feel like a really cool companion is floating up to meet you in flight and travel alongside. There is certainly something special going on with this piece. Its architecture is high and wide and loaded with sonic structure.
“Is That Enough” takes its sweet time unfolding a large vocal presence and sweeping guitar rhythms. There is an earnest soulfulness in DeRosa’s empowered vocal reach. He coats the melodic phrase and rhythmic underpinnings beneath him with muscular coos and sustains that give a sense that something huge is going on.
“Touchdown In Boston” is one of the most hauntingly beautiful songs on this album. DeRosa laments the strange isolating he feels in the deadness of the city’s winter. He accurately captures the deadened forlorn feeling of being in a big city during the low temperature season. Guitarist Daniel King paints a vivid landscape with his mournfully beautiful guitar atmospherics. Thrown in with a rhythm section that knows how to anchor such a painterly song, and you have a another potential radio hit.
The boys mellow out again for “Take Me Away.” The guitar notes ring out with lonesome honky tonk heart as DeRosa wears his heart on his sleeve. This singer puts across wide sweeps of emotive lyrics with a confident easefulness. Drummer Doug Standley adds a little extra something in the down tempo portions before kicking the song into first gear with a steady pushiness.
“The Price You Pay” finds The Naked Stills playing in a peppy vibe. Mild manner guitars and tasteful drumming hit with just enough pluck to hold the ear and to support their theme of making sacrifices in relationships. DeRosa sings in a poignant plaintive manner. His voice rises in pitch as he lists his losses and gains, and that makes the song resonate with more of the band’s soulful appeal.
The boys kick right into “All I Need.” This one swaggers with a knobby bass line and palpably feisty drumming. You can feel yourself swept along by the hip rhythm section when they apply their snappy techniques. The vocal and guitar lines playing out over the groove depend on the rhythms to strut around. And\ they make full use of the wide swings to do some impressive stuff. DeRosa is again emotive and empowered and King’s lead guitar cries out with feeling.
“We Fall Apart” has a fulsome drum sound. Those skins are just dollops of percussive rhythm. Subtly and nuance are the other strengths here. Twitchy guitar sweeps kick in with zinging charisma. An incisive guitar line practically skates the surface of authority. You get a vivid sonic landscape along with a really good rock song.
The Naked Stills close out their album with “Hands Of Love.” This one takes it time paying out its huge sounds cape. The guitar sustains ring out with heartfelt emotion and the rest of the band create a forlorn backdrop. DeRosa’s vocal and King’s lead guitar feel like a long bittersweet goodbye. The guitar is practically whistling its goodbye melody and the vocal is low key, strong but resigned to the inevitable. It is a pleasing farewell-for-now letter to their fans.
Keyboardist Mike Effenberger from Tan Vampires added his own personal touch to this album. Despite his obvious talents, it may have been more telling if the band had recorded a debut without so much accompaniment. This is certainly a band with enormous potential The Naked Stills can only grow huge after such an impressive, dynamic debut.