Dr. Dog

Dr. Dog never fails to deliver pop perfection a la Brian Wilson, Van Dyke Parks and Emitt Rhodes. Fate continues this trend. Yet it feels rather ragged for a record that's been touted as the band's breakthrough. Chirpy sing-alongs like "The Breeze" and "From" grind against the weary blue-eyed soul of "Hang On" and "The Ark." This stuff is more Dennis Wilson than Brian, but that's a good thing. Few modern pop bands have the guts to get all emotional like a funky beach rat.

"Let go of the old ones/We've got some new ones," sings Scott McMicken on "The Old Days,"
a woozy parlor-room piano-rock reverie. The Philadelphia band's albums have always
sounded like they should be filed alongside "old ones" like the Band, the Beach Boys, the
Beatles and the Bonzo Dog Band, but Fate feels less like a straight tribute to Dr. Dog's elders
and more like a finely tuned collage. "The Breeze" begins as a trembling folkie b... More >