Goose Creek Symphony - The Same Thing Again (2008)

The paragraph-long liner notes by Goose Creek Symphony guitarist/singer Charlie Gearheart offer only the sketchiest of details for this 2008 release of previously unissued material. It's known that the sessions represented by these nine tracks were started in Nashville in 1973, with additional recording done in Seattle, but for whatever reason, they didn't find release at the time. In 2007, the tapes were rediscovered and finally issued on this CD, along with an accompanying bonus DVD. While it's not clear why the recordings were consigned to the vault at the time, as they're certainly up to official release standard, they're not so exceptional that they deserve special attention outside of Goose Creek Symphony's fan base. It's droll, quite laid-back country-rock bringing to mind fish-out-of-water hippies in redneck territory. Accents from Tex-Mex border music are heard on "Just Another Rock & Roll Song," strong hints of Crosby, Stills & Nash-style harmonizing are evident on "Sailors," and straightforward romantic country songwriting is employed on "Sweet Lucy" and "Mary." The approximately 25-minute accompanying DVD is a disappointment, largely consisting of vintage home movie-type footage of the bandmembers on-stage and traveling on their bus. Its shaky visuals and fairly abominable sound quality make it hard to even watch, let alone enjoy.