Audio Mixers: Joe Reineke; The Lonely H.

On their first two albums, 2006's Kick Upstairs and 2007's Hair, it seemed that the Pacific Northwest-based Lonely H had been listening to a lot of classic rock, and when they really took off on a song, they sounded like a slightly low-rent version of Cheap Trick trying to sound like Queen, all with a sort of ragged garage thing going on, too. When it worked, it worked really well. When it didn't, well, Lonely H sounded like a band that was overreaching. With this album it appears the group has discovered the Band, the Grateful Dead and the Eagles, as well, and these songs have much more of a heartland country rock feel, although there were always faint elements of that popping up now and then on the first two albums. Again, when it works, it works well, like the cocky and Eagles-like energy of "Cold Blues," the Grateful Dead truckin' shuffle of "The River," and the easy, deep resonance of "White Horse Tears," which sounds admirably like an outtake from the Band. There's more pop inflected stuff here, too, like the initially intriguing but ultimately less-than-it-could-have-been "Girl from Jersey," but it takes a back seat. All of this leaves Concrete Class feeling a bit like a transitional album, not quite country rock and not quite anything else, either. Still, this an interesting band, and one feels they're going somewhere, but they just haven't quite gotten there yet. ~ Steve Leggett