The Blue Stones fail to interest or excite me for the most part on Hidden Gems, save for a very sparse selection of tracks.
Is this dad music? I’m unsure whether I’m just too young for this to truly captivate me or not, but this record seemingly provides cut after cut of watered down tracks, clearly deriving much “inspiration” from blues rock band The Black Keys. Although the record shows promise by opening with the passable “Lights On” and “Shakin’ off the Rust,” the track listing soon devolves into lulling, unwavering deliveries in instrumentals and even more boring vocal approaches. For example, “Careless” starts off with perhaps the most heavily sleep-inducing performances on the album, then fails to progress in any way at all, either lyrically or instrumentally. The static nature of much of the record provides for one of the least enjoyable listens I’ve had all year, aside from that girl in red project back in May. The following “Grim” gives an even worse vocal performance; the particularly irritating stop-and-go delivery to begin the song has me reaching for the skip button before I’ve even heard more than a few seconds of it. There is a glimmer of hope provided by the succeeding cut “Let It Ride,” which, although it still sounds like an energetic Black Keys rip off, at least this time sounds like a good rip off. This being the only track that truly sparked interest in me (at least upon my first few listens), I wondered if it was worth it to continue to return to this record for one song even after it had let me down so many times previously. This track, along with “Make This Easy,” was one which I could point out and say that I enjoyed across the board; production-wise and vocally, these two were part of what little I could take away after having heard Hidden Gems. “Make This Easy” takes a well-needed tune up in guitar performance and lyrics. One of the only memorable guitar progressions throughout the album, it gave me some sense of not having completely wasted my time listening to this thing. The worst of the lyrics appear on “L.A. Afterlife,” supported by an instrumental that was done an absolute injustice. At this point in the project, I’m questioning how much second thought was even given to many of the tracks here; had this happened, perhaps the effort would have at least shown up. “Spirit” is another passable track, but again fails to stick or interest the listener. Ending on a somewhat sour note, the long-winded “Oceans” closes the record. The potential in this track is visible, but apparently out of reach for The Blue Stones. Closing in here on 10 tracks and 40 minutes, the album title does make me think: do The Blue Stones want us to search for the “hidden gems” amongst all the other rubble provided on this project? If so, it worked. Digging for the 2 or 3 gems here doesn’t exactly prove a very fruitful experience, however; spend your time elsewhere. Tracks worth giving a listen to are “Let It Ride” and “Make This Easy.”
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AuthorEnrique Cardenas III Archives
November 2021
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