Ah, the end of another school year in Ann Arbor. A new set of college memories all ready to progressively fade away over the course of the next 15 years as you gradually slide into middle age complicity. So how to hold on to those precious bits of your youth? What memento can you grab to remind you of faded glory?
- Paul Wong
- Two stars.
A yearbook? Yearbooks are for kids who went to classes. Same goes for diplomas. But for those of you who spent most their college careers falling off stools at Touchdown’s and Rick’s or standing in a sweaty living room at house parties, you need a keepsake to remind you of your quasi-academic endeavors.
Beer bottles tend to mold and smell; DPS gets pissed if you try rip off the street signs on your block. So how about a little background music that might have well been playing duing some of your finest Ann Arbor moments, courtesy of a favorite local band, Curious Few?
It’s a solid set of songs from a great party/bar jam band which has been on the scene for a couple of years now, working their way up from keggers to long-term stands at Touchdown’s and the like. Two things inhibit this from being the kind of record that these guys wanted to make.
First, as with any primary live band, there is always some problem transferring their sound. This collection of original tunes lacks the loose fun of the Fews’ live show. The songs don’t quite the sound same if you’re not listeneing with a few drinks under your belt and the PA blasting over the roar of a Thursday night crowd.
Second, while all of the songs are decent here, there’s a bit of trouble distinguishing between the tracks. Everything has the same nice mellow feel that pleases the party kids, but grows a bit tiresome after 50 minutes when you’re alone with your CD player.
But you never know – 10, 15 years down the line you might stumble across this record buried with in the basement of your parents’ house, put it on and remember simpler times.