4.0 out of 5 stars
How About A Picture?, April 20, 2004
I discovered this Long Beach band when reading about them in one of the local papers recently. Greater California are a quiet, exotic and subtle band, full of melodies and moody moments. They are hard to describe. They sound like they are doing their own thing as they don't remind me immediately of any other band. They may be seen vaguely as stoner music that would have found itself comfortable in the mid 1970s. There's a sort of studded optimism in their music that is sort of infectious. Why this record is called "The Little Pacific" is a mystery, because the Pacific isn't little by any means, unless they are talking about some mental state of comfort. There are some love songs here like "She Glows" which are great songs. "Everything Starting To Happen" sounds more like a garage band of the 1960s. Their musicianship shows but it's not hamfisted and overstated. There's a psychedelic edge to their music mixed with a California-ness which for me recalls the band Call and Response. California is a place that often seems stoned or just plain dumb, but this band is not.
The singing is great: Terry Prine is very talented. Greater California seems more in company with some of the bands of Twisted Nerve label in the UK. Bands who are familiar with folk music but really play what they want and are hard to define. They seem at times like a jazz group wanting to be a pop group, as on "Waiting" which may be the best song on the album, with the haunting chorus of "Everything is just fine." You can tell that you are in the presence of something special. You just can't put your hand on it. Since most bands in Southern California are these horrible punk bands who are only good for a laugh, it's a surprise that Greater California can co-exist here. Don't they feel like getting tattoos or a stripper girlfriend? They seem uninterested in the junk culture that surrounds them. They don't resort to snobbery really. They just want to be floating on Highway 1 which a pleasant tune in their head. What more can you ask?
(www.freewilliamsburg.com)
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