March 2010
Top Pick

The last time Jason & The Scorchers released a new album was way back in 1996. In 2008 the band won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Americana Music Conference...which may have prompted them to regroup and record an album of new material. These days the band consists of original members Jason Ringenberg and Warner E. Hodges along with new members Al Collins and Pontus Snibb. Instead of being a retread of old sounds and times gone by, Halcyon Times is a vibrant new album of material that finds the band playing as hard and as well as they ever did. The tracks on this album remind us very much of The Kinks during their time on the Arista label when they had transformed into an all-out rock band. The young rhythm section really adds the necessary punch that makes these new songs cook. These fourteen rockers are sure to please the bands original fans as well as youngsters who originally heard the band on their parents' old vinyl LPs. Kickass tracks include "Beat on the Mountain," "Mother of Greed," "Twang Town Blues," and "We've Got It Goin' On."