Dreadnaught - The American Standard
(Red Fez)
My first full exposure to 1970s progressive rock (of sorts) was during the first years of MTV when Yes' "Owner of a Lonely Heart" video was in heavy rotation. With what at the time was pretty gruesome imagery for a music video, a pile of snakes, I was so terrified I wanted no part of Yes or any band in any way associated with Yes.
My most recent exposure to 1970s progressive rock (of sorts) is Dreadnaught, a free form rock band from New Hampshire that exhibits all of the traits that make some progressive rock embarrassing to listen to. They group seemingly unrelated tracks into multi-song suites. They have overdone artwork. Their music is all showmanship and technical prowess with little heart or soul to get in the way. Everything that makes prog "bad" is right here.
However, Dreadnaught also have chops. They certainly can play, as they clearly show in their first five songs (four of which are unfortunately grouped into something called the "Deus Ex Machina"). "Ballbuster" is a fitting name to The American Standard's first song as it starts off the album with an amalgamation of raw, harsh sounding guitars, changing tempos so often that the music may not physically damage your testicles but it might leave you dizzy enough to think it did. The "Deus Ex Machina" suite that follows takes many completely unrelated forms (conveniently pulled together as a suite, of course), from corny, giggling bedroom funk to quick-paced hoedown smirking to Kraftwerk-ian electronica to 80s TV soundtrack fodder.
While the guitar showmanship of these songs is enjoyable, the prog rock they draw from doesn't always center on King Crimson or even Yes; the progressive rock they draw from sometimes digs deep enough to uncover the pre-Steve Perry jazz-rock of Journey. Is this even progressive? I don't know, but songs like "Clownhead" and "Rats and Me" that litter the second half of the album suck like a Journey song would still suck if Steve Perry wasn't there sucking so much. Perhaps, for Dreadnaught, this is all part of the joke, but sometimes I question whether Dreadnaught is really joking at all; they seem to take a lot of these apparent jokes seriously.
To fans of pure prog rock, Dreadnaught probably sounds like a revelation. To those who only know about prog second hand through Trans Am or from that old Yes video with all the snakes, it's probably best to stay away from Dreadnaught.
|
