Best of all, though, is “Nothing is Heard” a protest song that reminds me of Neil Young whipping up a storm with Crazy Horse. Based on this song alone, I’d declare One Little Dream a success, but considering everything else—the fine playing, the production, and other songs like “The Recurring Hurrah” and the title track—it’s clearly the best 21TR effort yet.
Their album No Junk Mail Please has something for everyone, and they can really pull off the changes in tone well. Perhaps the more I think about it the thing which unites all of the tracks is not schizophrenia but rather that they are all crazy good.
I wasn't sure where this CD might go, but must say I was more than pleasantly surprised by the journey By 21 Tandem Repeats takes the listener. They might be underground, but they shouldn't be. They deserve a broader audience for this fine recording.
From the storytelling of "Bold Point Road" with it's slice-of-life description of some dreamy pastoral setting we can all pine for to the somewhat Fairport Convention-like "Mustache Man," this Vancouver band sounds confident, assured and Canadian. How else can you describe a reedy-voiced neo-waltz titled "Saskatchewan" or "The Recurring Hurrah's" nautical allusions? That there is so much style in the songs is likely due to the members longstanding Super Robertson residency at the Railway Club and all the chops it developed. Very Northwest whimsical pop sounds indeed
21 Tandem Repeats don’t so much as make music as grow it on an organic sound farm somewhere deep in the damp heart of BC, harvesting it when the melodies are sweetest, and the musicianship is ripest.
" On the 16 tracks that make up Last Dance @ the Shockcenter, the group proves itself a progressive jazz-rock outfit of the finest sort. Stellar musicianship, mind-bending lyrics, and adventurous arrangements make it clear that Roadbed would be much better off sending well-rolled doobies to prospective reviewers rather than lowly boxes of ale."