album: Be Happy
reviews:
Empire UK
With their latest release, a concise 10-track collection titled
with, one hopes, a glimmer of irony, Be Happy, perennial L.A. combo
[Patrolled By Radar] distance themselves yet further from the Alt
Country label that they’ve sported somewhat uncomfortably since they
ventured onto the scene some eleven years and four albums ago.
As labels go, Americana is even vaguer than Alt Country but at least
it suggests a broader canvass, which is useful in this case. It also
evokes plenty of evocative stuff like crackly valve radios,
roadhouse crooners, bad whisky and worse women, all of which
resonate fulsomely throughout Be Happy, an album riven with enough
heartache, yearning and pain to satisfy the most die-hard C&W fans.
It also retains the band’s notorious balance of crunch and twang -
thunderous drums, rock solid bass and guitars that jangle and shred
in harmonious accord.
But it’s obvious that frontman and songwriter Jay Souza looks
farther afield for his inspiration than Nashville - or, indeed, the
United States. It’s not uncommon to read comments like “Johnny Cash
meets The Beatles” in [Patrolled By Radar] reviews, and they do have
some currency. There is, in the sly lyrics and brisk song
structures, echoes of classic Britpop that, to these ears at least,
recalls The Kinks and The Who more readily than The Beatles.
That said, Be Happy never strays far from its roots, which are
firmly planted in the American heartland. Be Happy is [Patrolled By
Radar's] most ambitious and satisfying album by far, a culmination
of fully matured songwriting, superb musicianship and a confident
and unique blend of styles. And the only label you need for that is
damn fine rock and roll.
Simon Braund
The Open Road-KCRW
Wowza for Jay Souza. [Patrolled By Radar] is a great band with
terrific songs. Bang and twang!
Gary Calamar (Music Supervisor) GO Music Services
