Real Radio Review

[Spacey]

Found this review while searching/surfing the net. Not sure if someone has posted this or has read/seen it. Kinda of a bummer but interesting because, the author says that Real Radio was weak but, their live shows make your jaws drop. I believe this was a midwestener journalist.

The Breakfast
Real Radio
Brian Gearing
Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Most jambands’ contradictory attempts to capture their live energy on record are doomed from the start. The rigid studio process is antithetical to their without-a-net aesthetic, and most just aren’t capable of achieving the transcendence they seek without the open canvas of a live audience. The Breakfast have been painting aural gems on Midwest audiences for years, but their instrumental gifts aren’t enough to save the weak songs and limp production of Real Radio.

Much of the record suggests that for The Breakfast, Real Radio last broadcasted in the mid 70s, when guitarist Tim Palmieri would have been worshipped rather than vilified for his technical theatrics, when “prog,” “arena” and “glam” were all terms still to be coined at a later date, and rock and roll was rock and roll, no matter how pretentious. The Breakfast’s third album channels the philosophical weight of Kansas, the poppy harmonies of Boston, and the melodrama of Styx through a 21st Century tie-dyed funnel to create a record heavy on complexity but lacking what little soul much of 70s rock radio had.

The quirky, whitebread funk rock of opener “Inner Glimpse” drops abruptly into the verse’s warm, floating harmonies, but the reggae bridge, despite Palmieri’s impressive fretwork, is out of place, and the otherwise brilliant Rush-like interlude seems to have come from the latter half of a fifteen-minute live version. Drummer Adrian Tramontano lays down a solid livetronica beat on “Sleeping Beauty,” but the song is damned by the typical jamband shuffle that also haunts “Doughboy,” “Gravity” and “No Regret.”

The harder edge of “Fairy” almost cuts through the sludgy production, but the drums and bass aren’t quite sharp enough to open things up. Palmieri’s baseball metaphors don’t mesh with the hot, sweaty funk of “Score,” and “Vera Street” is a disastrous example of an improvisational rock band’s attempt to write a sweet love ballad.

Despite its superficial lyrics, the adventurous, pop-punk spirit of “Dimension 5” gives a glimpse into what The Breakfast is capable of and finally achieves on the “The Grand Scheme of Things”—at twelve minutes-plus, by far the longest track on the album. The closer’s hodge-podge of Zappaisms, jazz, drum solos and soft guitar wanderings is what The Breakfast do best, and what they should focus on, live or otherwise. The fact that jambands are still making studio albums shows just how far the scene is from shifting the music industry paradigm—as well as how dependent they are on it. As long as the pressure for radio fodder exists, bands like The Breakfast will continue to disappoint in the studio while they drop jaws on the stage.

Glide Magazine CD Review

[skalnbyc]

Real Radio is awesome and my/our sentiment needs to captured in more reviews.  

What other jamband has produced a better album lately (I\'m really curious to know since I haven\'t heard any)?

[Spacey]

I don\'t listen to studio albums for jambands, mostly because they end of portraying a different side that you don\'t see unless it is on an album. I agree that more of us from .info should take up writing reviews of shows and albums and persistently sending them out to all jamband and other musical outlets. The Breakfast are better then the jamband moniker, maybe we should approach it on a different angle.

[Steffmo]

LOL....I didn\'t post that drek here to save a annoyance.  But hey...its a free country and this guy is totally free to be a moron is he wants.

[skalnbyc]

Who writes the jambands.com reviews?  An insider or independent voice?  I really don\'t think the guy had any legitimate criticisms of the songs.  

On another note, I still plan to make good on my intentions of getting more Breakfast in the press (hopefully more praise).  There are lots of influential music columnists who can elevate the awareness of our beloved Staven boys.

[SlimPickens]

i think genc\'s wrote a jambands review once

[funkydrummer23]

I think that guy gets it up the ass......how the fuck could somebody actually say that the breakfast\'s songs are weak....allthough I understand and agree that capturing the energy of a jam on tape is almost impossible...I think its safe to say that the breakfast does a pretty good job...

[galenas]

ouch! that\'s a tough review!

[Gordo]

i tstll think rlea radio is weak............. thats alllll

[bezerker]

I Think RR owns and those assholes are only looking for excuses to shit on the boys.  its like he went through every song, listening just to hear things he hated and then put it in the review.   fuck him and feed him beans

[Spacey]

Dude is clueless. We should start our own marketing campaign and write reviews and send them into every media facet. And keep sending until they answer or print our shit. Everytown has a local guide to what is going on. I know Providence and Southeastern Mass has the Phoenix, Boston too. CT has Play and the Hartford/New Haven Advocate. We should consistenly preach Breakfast and get these guys good publicity.

[bezerker]

We should consistenly preach Breakfast and get these guys good publicity.

i do consistently preach breakfast no matter where I am and have definetly gotten them a lot of fans.  they are the best, let people know that and give them cds, its the only way to get them to understand, unless you can drag \'em to a show which is hard since most are so far away and they are all sallys.  sending good reviews out will definetly help tons too........especially since most are bullshit !

[Jim Cobb]

personally, i think the guy\'s gripes are less about the breakfast specifically, and more about the state of popular music today.  he\'s right, trying to get a band like the breakfast to deliver in the studio like they deliver on stage is like trying to write a book on exactly what moves a player must make to win a basketball game or something rediculous like that.  it just cant be done.  i personally think that the band should be releasing live albums.  if they had taken the same songs and same production budget and released a live version of real radio, i think this reviewer and many others might have taken to it better.  we know and love the songs because we\'ve been hearing them live for a WHILE, so we KNOW what their potential is.  people who are not as familiar with these songs and are hearing them maybe for the first time, they dont know what we know.  remember how it took people a while to get into fresh cut?  we had to hear it live a bunch of times before we realized what a good tune it is.  i think thats what this reviewer is saying.  sadly, he came across kind of aggressive, but i think i agree with his basic idea about music (especially jam bands) in general.

[kyndkate]

Radio pressure causes problems for so many good jambands. Sigh.

[ChrisF]

We should start our own marketing campaign and write reviews and send them into every media facet.

that website that had the interview has a forum on it. why dont you post your own review right there. thats a good place to start.