Roamin' Gabriels - Smile
(Sling-Shot)
One of my favorite bands of the 80s was the quirky, avant garde, off-kilter, jazzy, loungey pop of Felt, who released ten vastly different albums in ten years. Two of the more unusual entries in their impressive catalogue were Let the Snakes Crinkle Their Heads To Death and Train Above the City. For fans who've been stockpiling bachelor pad music since the popularity of the Austin Powers' movies, have I got a treat for you! Another in a seemingly endless line of punny band names (Brian Jonestown Massacre, Dandy Warhols, John Cougar Concentration Camp), this northwest NJ/northeast PA instrumental trio was named after the former all-star quarterback of the old Los Angeles Rams football team. (It's also a multi-layered inside joke for fans of leader Len Mooney's weekly radio program over WNTI-FM, 91.9 in Hackettstown, NJ called "Gabe's Lunchbreak," making him the pseudonymous roamin' Gabriel.) Smile is loaded with wonderful, groovy, 60s-styled lounge vibes with an occasional jazzy twist-Mooney calls it "groove music." "Marley's Bones," for example, is one of several funky, organ-based softshoe shuffles reminiscent of some of Quincy Jones' soundtrack work from the late 60s/early 70s ("The Hot Rock" springs to mind immediately. As an aside, the big "Q" just turned 70 this week. Happy birthday and thanks for all that great music!) It also reminds me of the rockin' salsa grooves of early Santana.
The two lengthy openers (the 7:00 "T. Groove" and the 6:00 "Chicken Fingers") set the stage for a night of frosty cocktails and hot babes in the penthouse suite. The fascinating fretwork of Kevin Siebold, particularly his solos on "Chicken Fingers," "Wonder Years," and the finger-popping "Retrofit," perfectly compliments Mooney's equally impressive organ fills (with many solos throughout), which add a nice rock element, leaving fans of both hard jazz and smooth rock instrumentals begging for more. There's even a goshdarn Buddy Rich-inspired drum solo from Drew Siciliano in the middle of "C Bop," and "Sweet Suit" reminds me of Nelson Riddle backing Francis Albert leading the Rat Pack through a boozy rendition of "Swinging on A Star."
While we've never landed anyone in the Billboard charts or an MTV video (so this may not be as impressive as it sounds), but this is simply the finest release to emerge from NW NJ/NE PA corridor. So, major label A&R dudes and dudettes, get your heads out of Nora Jones' ass and slide on out to lovely, bucolic NW NJ and check out the next big thing. A pivotal release in the loungey, neo-space age bachelor pad revival.
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