The Broken Family Band: Please and Thank You (Cooking Vinyl, 2009)
The Broken Family Band has been one of the best british country-tinged rock bands over the last few years. Unfortunately they have decided to call it a day and break up after their current tour. I’ve always liked them, but for me none of their albums has been perfect. I think I just expect too much, because it’s totally my kind of band. I love the style, I love Steven Adams’ voice and I love his lyrics that can turn from beautiful to witty in a second and you ended up laughing before getting worried that what if he is being serious. So I’m kind of unfairly expecting that album of the year from then and can’t be totally happy with the solid really good albums they give every time. After all, I could just quit whining and pick those 3-4 songs from every album and make my own the best of The Broken Family Band record that would turn up being like the greatest album ever.
The only problem with their latest album Please and Thank You is that it’s getting even further away from their country roots and closer to typical indie rock. Sure their blissfully twisted indie rock is far more interesting than the indie rock of some average band, but it’s not as appealing to my tastes as their earlier work. The not so rockin’ stuff like Borrowed Time, Old Wounds and Mimi is still truly excellent, but as a whole this is a little bit weaker than their previous albums.
The Broken Family Band Website
The Broken Family Band at myspace