New CD - Township - Coming Home

4.875 Handrews*
When I got home from work on Tuesday, I was greeted with a package from Township (a sweet band I like from Boston), containing their new album, Coming Home. I thought to myself, "Sweet, that new Township CD that I ordered got here. Wait a minute, I didn't order the new Township CD." You may recall that I received their EP a year and a half ago or so simply by emailing the band and asking how to get it. Maybe I'm on some special list. However it happened, thanks Township!

The lead singer, Marc Pinansky, is the former lead singer of Runner and The Thermodynamics (see #395-396 on my A-Z CD countdown), a band that I just started to get into right before they broke up.

Township picks up where Runner left off. I loved their EP, and I was happy that they finally released an full-length album. Their music is very much a throwback to the rock and roll of the late '60s and early '70s, and Coming Home is no excpetion. Among the influences that I hear are (in no particular order) Thin Lizzy, Santana, ELP, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Steppenwolf, early Aerosmith, early Bruce Springsteen, Grand Funk Railroad, early Doobie Brothers, Bad Company, Black Sabbath, and The Beatles. The songs are, for the most part, 3-5 minutes, with a couple longer ones. There is not a bad song in the lot. Pinansky has a great rock voice. I was really impressed with the drumming. The bassist is very tight as well, and the guitar work isn't too shabby either. It's too bad more new bands aren't making music like this.

The album is officially released in stores next Tuesday (2/26). According to the email they sent out to their email list, it will be available online at Newbury Comics (which, if you've ever been to Boston, is a pretty cool store). Also, here are Towsnhip's official site and MySpace site (where you can hear some of their songs):

-Official Township website
-Township MySpace site

I've listened to the album on repeat for the past two days at work. Here is a track-by-track breakdown:

1. "Round the Dust" (6:01) is a good start to the album. It's rock. It's solid. That's all you need to know.
2. "Highway" (4:35) is a good straight-ahead driving rock and roll song, with a wicked guitar solo. It sounded familiar to me because Marc Pinansky had a solo acoustic version on his MySpace page a few years ago. I really like what they've done with it.
3. "Baby Rock Me" (4:47) is a slower, ballad-esque song.
4. "Millions of People" (3:14) is an upbeat song, almost sounding like early Doobie Brothers, but better. The chorus ("millions of people movin' along") is definitely one that is easy to sing along to.
5. "Sandy" (3:43) is an upbeat song that reminds me of early Springsteen (although not of the Bruce Springsteen song of the same name), along with some twin guitars that remind me of Thin Lizzy. I like this song a lot.
6. "Jesus" (5:55) has some organ and starts out sounding like a revival.
7. "Home" (8:16) is an anthemic, crescendoing, final-song-of-the-night kind of song. The first part of the song (first 5 minutes) has an arena rock feel to it, while the last three minutes is more uptempo and Pinansky repeats the phrase "love will lead us home," which kind of reminds me of "I'm Your Captain (Closer to Home)" by Grand Funk Railroad (a song that I'm a big fan of).
8. "Big Bad" (4:24) is a ballsy, snarling piece. Remember before you and I were born when Aerosmith used to rock? It's kind of like that, but a little darker and a little edgier.
9. "Crawl Back" (3:18) is uptempo and has a country rock/rockabilly feel to it. I would say it sounds kind of like the Eagles, but it's got a little more of an edge to it than the Eagles (like when the Stones play country rock songs), and I hate the fucking Eagles.
10. "Boo Hoo" (3:35) is another ballsy, cock rock kind of song, with a badass distorted riff and Zepplin-style vocals (not the same voice, but the same style).
11. "With You All Along" (9:41) is another song that is seemingly broken into several parts. The beginning of the song is a driving rhythm section jam, with some space-age guitar here and there. The next part of the song has the feel of a slower Iron Maiden song combined with a later Zeppelin song. The Zeppelin-like qualities continue throughout, as the song slows down. This song is in the vein of the later Zeppelin (Houses of the Holy and after) longer, stoner-friendly mystical songs, with a little Pink Floyd mixed in, eventually fading into nothingness.

*GMYH CD Review Scale:
-6 Handrews - Buy it now. NOW!!
-5 Handrews - Excellent album that you should seriously consider purchasing in the near future
-4 Handrews - Very good album that you should at least check out on iTunes
-3 Handrews - If you want it, download it illegally
-2 Handrews - Somewhere between Britney Spears and William Hung
-1 Handrew - Ashlee Simpson
-0 Handrews - PopoZao