{"id":22012,"date":"2021-11-27T05:30:23","date_gmt":"2021-11-27T10:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=22012"},"modified":"2021-11-17T09:00:12","modified_gmt":"2021-11-17T14:00:12","slug":"album-review-the-pulsators-lets-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2021\/11\/27\/album-review-the-pulsators-lets-play\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: The Pulsators — Let’s Play!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"From Petaluma, California comes the six-piece band The Pulsators. The band is led by drummer-vocalist Johnny Campbell, a musician who came to my attention as a member of late\u2019 70s new wave group The Impostors. That group\u2019s story is featured along with the stories of 28 other artists in my new book, Disturbing the Peace: 415 Records and the Rise of New Wave<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bu there\u2019s nothing new-wavey about The Pulsators. Campbell is the group\u2019s songwriter, and his songs display a variety of styles. The brief introductory track features some ambient sounds and gently picked guitar, but those elements don\u2019t suggest the character of the rest of the album.<\/p>\n

The songs showcase vocal harmonies that suggest an appreciation for the Beach Boys, but the arrangements feature harder-edged playing and a robust horn section. The latter gives a slight Springsteen vibe to the songs. Campbell\u2019s assured lead vocal work has a nicely lived-in feel to it, and the shouted choruses on tunes like \u201cOne Fine Day in Memphis\u201d display a warm heartland character.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s Play!<\/i> seems to set out to be a musical travelogue, and it succeeds in that goal. New Orleans style boogie-woogie piano is at the core of \u201cDirty Again.\u201d Subtle south-of-the-border horn licks decorate \u201cGood Time Feeling.\u201d \u201cWhen the Time is Right\u201d has a classic dance floor vibe. \u201cFool\u201d stacks even more chorus vocal atop a wistful melody. Reggae textures form the basis of \u201cBe the Change.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in the tradition of classic answer songs, Campbell\u2019s original \u201cLet the Good Times Roll Again\u201d is a return trip to New Orleans. John Farey\u2019s stellar, expressive keyboard work is a highlight of the entire album, and it\u2019s showcased most brilliantly on this track.<\/p>\n

After effectively putting across a party vibe for most of its run time, Let\u2019s Play!<\/i> ends on a contemplative note with the lovely, waltzing \u201cA Different Light.\u201d When the second lead vocal joins for later verses, it adds an intimate quality that serves as a heartfelt set-closer for this solid set of 13 tunes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Petaluma, California comes the six-piece band The Pulsators. The band is led by drummer-vocalist Johnny Campbell, a musician who came to my attention as a member of late\u2019 70s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22013,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,49,62,65],"tags":[4699],"class_list":["post-22012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-americana","category-new-release","category-rawk","category-review","tag-the-pulsators","cat-6-id","cat-49-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22012"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22014,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22012\/revisions\/22014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}