Two guitars, bass, drums & hoarse rasping vocals from Ohio USA playing straight forward american rock music, Two Cow Garage manage to rack up a couple hundred live shows each year. With a European Tour scheduled for Summer 2007 we’ll not judge whether they had time to think of a more inspired name for their third album so Three it is.
Sticking strongly to the rock n roll cowboy formula with songs about how shit things are when endlessly touring, Three strolls along from one bittersweet regret to the next with the vocals setting a very strained feeling to the whole affair which at times is crushingly depressing. Often Two Cow Garage struggle to convey the ‘who gives a fuck’ attitude that real kick-ass rock music requires to reach into your guts and tighten guitar strings round your soul.
Halfway through though, Now I Know bounces in unexpectedly like a bastardised american version of a Quireboys tune before the album sliding back into Should’ve California, a what could’ve been ballad about youthful glory days. Mediocre then takes us into a Dave Lee Roth self-parodying sound complete with horn section but overall the highlight, upbeat moments are over-shadowed by the world weary balladeering, leaving the album as the perfect soundtrack to anyone wishing to buy in a gallon of Jack Daniel’s & a carton of Marloboro and smoke & drink themselves into oblivion. Understanding that is the key to the album’s greatness.
