Balls Capone

The following review was written by musical editor Steve Welch of The San Francisco Journal featuring bands throughout America.  This article is written on behalf of "Balls Capone" featuring Patrick Neville and a fine group of musicians out of Salt Lake City, Utah.

The album "Balls Capone" by Balls Capone the band, is an eclectic collection of soulful blues and jazz type music that features ten well produced songs by the band which include Patrick Neville, lead vocalist and lead guitar player, Evan Powell, drums and percussion, Jimmy Lauscher, Vocals and guitar, and Max Mausculino on the Bass guitar.  I assume there were other studio musicians involved due to the tasteful harmonica on "Bad Dreams."

The album, to this writer, takes you on a journey through time starting with the first cut, "Nobody Else" that features interesting rhythms in the Neil Young genre.  "Bad Dreams" the second cut on the album almost reminds me of the 80s Stevie Wonder type music. The harmonica riffs mixed with Pat's leads add a unique edge to this song.   The band pulls it off in an original and professional manner.  Cut three, "What Our Was" has hard driving rhythms and good leads and also has very reflective lyrics driven home by Neville's hard hitting, edgy vocal style.

"Left Behind" is a gut wrenching, "sticky revolting mess" which speaks of real life experiences through the point of view of the writer.  This in my estimation is a very haunting song that anyone should be able to relate to. "The Truth Never Bothered" while far from my favorite song on the album does have lots of lead guitar riffs and very cutting vocals.  I wonder if the person whom this song was written about knows they were the subject of this song.

Starting with, "God and Nixon," perhaps the best cut on this album, things get interesting in an artistic sense. God and Nixon written by Dean Mong, is handled very well by the band.  These lyrics, which represent the way things were in the 1970s, are priceless.  "The Business"  lyrically is an "Office Space" type satire of corporate America and very much worth listening to.  It is about the pitfalls of getting rich and having the rug pulled out from under in the form of the corporate ax. "Coke Spoons and Ladies" is a real rocker.  Like many rock n' roll songs it is very angry.  This song is truly like a "bastard coming to you".  The song takes an unexpected turn when it transitions from hard core rock into very interesting jazz type rhythms, great bass and tasteful jazz riffs.  This transitional jam ushers in  what are in my opinion the best songs on the album.

  "Bombs and Guns," is truly a masterpiece both from a lyrical and musical standpoint and features the writing style of Patrick and J.J. Neville.  The final song is "Cat Man Blue" which was also a collaborative effort, by John Neville and Pat Neville.  This cut is a chilling insight into the seedy side of American culture and the lyrics tell a tragic story of a bank robbery gone bad.

All in all this album is a fine piece of artistic creativity.  Buy it!