After doing a search on ILM a few days ago, I was suprised to see no mention of this truly underrated British band in any threads. For those of you who like Gram Parsons, The Byrds ,The Jayhawks, Ryan Adams, Richmond Fontaine, The Band, Neil Young and Big Star they're definately worth checking out. The group's take on country (or Americana if you like) may seem like a fairly routine homage .....but first listens can be very deceiving.
Rather than an imitation of the genre, the music is filtered through a British perspective, which evokes an America of pure fiction; like something from the golden age of cinema, where discovery lies on every road in and out of small towns...yet also leads to bittersweet heartbreak and the poetic truths of a Kerouac novel.
My enthusiasm for Grand Drive might seem over the top, but there's just something about their music which can really brighten your day (especially good for a road trip) and make you forget about the trivial stuff (work etc). I bought an Australian compilation of theirs, 'See The Morning In' about five years ago, and within a bunch of over 500 c.d's, this always stays in the top five of most listened to. I'd love to hear some more opinions on them, so here's their myspace link below. Check out the track 'A Little Like You'....hope you love them as much as I do.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=114441950
― Piano Fire (Piano Fire), Saturday, 17 February 2007 03:23 (seventeen years ago) link