Customer Reviews

Necktie Second

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Pete Droge brings us music in the style of Counting Crows and Big Head Todd. Accoustic 90's style driven by emotionally delivered lyrics. A brilliant effort that one never grows tired of listening to. As different from "Spacey and Shakin" as night and day. Droge flows at his finest here ,highlighting his real talent, whereas "Spacey" is a loud, obnoxious, disjointed effort by Droge trying to sound like something he isn't: Big Arena Rocker. "Necktie Second" fills a space on my top albums list of the 90's.

Droge presents his musical narratives of love and loss, personal loneliness on the road, a best friends suicide and other matters of the heart in a spirited, richly textured manner. A Pacific Northwest artist deserving of a much wider audience.

This album is a songwriter's mid-90's time capsule; it tells you just where the singer-songwriter sound had gone since the genius of musical and lyrical authors like Jackson Browne, Paul Simon, and James Taylor had disappeared from the mainstream and the overall public eye. Unfortunately, Pete Droge & Co. only released one single (the tongue-in-cheek "IF YOU DON'T LOVE ME"). A song-by-song review follows:

1. If You Don't Love Me (I'll Kill Myself) - ***** - To youths, this could easily be referred to as the 'Dumb & Dumber' song. Definitely, one of the more underrated songs of our time. Might be the best song on the CD. It speaks to the average, love-sick, southern high-school student like a choir to a congregation.

2. Northernbound Train - ***** - A song for the brokenhearted. I could listen to this song over and over and over. Pete sings to fit a mood of someone who's downed over an already-leaving loved one, and you can't help but sing along to ever lyric. I'm shocked that this song wasn't a Top Forty hit; then again, as earlier stated, Necktie Second only sported one single.

3. Straylin Street - ***** - The second song I heard from NECKTIE SECOND. Another easy sing-along song. Such an immaculate "nineties\seventies-mix" sound should be illegal.

4. Fourth of July - ****1/2 - This song shows just how much Pete Droge and Tom Petty sound alike (vocally, as well as musically). Another tune for the broken-hearted. The traditional Tom Petty sound, shown in full greatness here, adds a heartland-glossed image that makes you want to strike your lighter.

5. Faith In You - **** - Similar to Northernbound Train; but this song doesn't have a depressed or sad mood to it. Just a mellow, Hootie & the Blowfish-fried, bar-band subjected mood, buried under a blur of overlapped vocals.

6. Two-Steppin' Monkey - **** - Based on the offbeat, obscure adventures of Dr. Grey (and a rocking drum beat!)

7. Sunspot Stopwatch - ***** - I'll get right to it: this song is hilarious. Even if it was meant to be serious (though I doubt it was, considering the lyrics don't have a point), you can't sing it without cracking a laughing smile. On the musical side, cudos on the intro electric guitar.

8. Hardest Thing To Do - **** - Continuing the string of Tom Petty-like songs on this CD, 'Hardest Thing' emphasizes the difficulties of "having faith".

9. So I Am Over You - ***** - Okay, this is the last time: this song SCREAMS Tom Petty. It always reminds me of Dire Straits' "Sultans of Swing", from the verse vocals and chord changes. I have to agree with another viewer, saying that Sheryl Crow could definitely cover it. Probably the most depressing song from the entire record. But listen to it anyway!

10. Dog On A Chain - **** - You gotta love the guitar that starts the song off (the mild-distorted guitar directly after the chorus could draw tears). A sad story about Davy (and his lesson), 'Dog On A Chain' unleashes Pete Droge in full maturity.

11. Hampton Inn Room 306 - ***** - I sang this to a tape recorder once, and then deleted it.............back to relevence, it's another open melody that speaks to a certain group of people (songwriters).

So, if you plan on going on a road trip anytime soon, be sure to bring plenty of drinks, cash, and NECKTIE SECOND blaring from the stereo! It's definitive Top-Ten Nineties material.

I was turned onto Pete Droge by Pearl Jam's guitarist Stone gossard's solo cd.Pete plays all the rythym and some lead guitar and backup vocals.So in turn I wanted to get more of his work and was gladly found this cd.While his playing on Stone's cd is alot more electric guitar, this is mainly acoustical and just as fascinating.This is a great cd to just stick in and get the full effect of Pete's lyrics and phenominal playing.I hope he decides to make another cd.

My mother gave me a copy of Necktie Second when I was in high school, and I wore out the tape by the time I was out of high school. This is a really overlooked album, and since it's the only one still in print, it's even more overlooked.

Another reviewer compared Pete Droge to Tom Petty, and that's a pretty good comparison. Droge's style is fairly slow and laid back, there's no thrash music or pop lyrics, just good, solid beats and rhythms.

This is one of the few CDs I have that I like every song on the CD. My personal favorites are If you don't love me (I'll kill myself), which always struck as a somewhat humorous song, and Two Stepping Monkey, which is another song with a funny title and and a light song. Not everything on the album is light, upbeat, or humorous, but the whole album is well done and there really isn't a weak song in the bunch.

If you like Wilco, Matthew Sweet, or Tom Petty, you'll love this wonderfully diverse album by a guy who should be getting much more justice.

One of the great underrated albums of the 90s by one of the unsung heroes of the period. Anyone who likes Americana/country rock must get this. The killer is So I Am Over You - hear it now before Sheryl Crow covers it and it becomes a colossal international hit. Picked it up in 1994 and it's been glued to my CD player since!

This is an excellent album by Pete Droge, tastemaker to the mellow. It's not heavy metal alright, but it isn't "music for a lazy saturday afternoon" either. It does have a taste of Tom Petty with a twist of Counting Crows, although Droge's rhythm and blues really stands out by itself. Summers deliver great backing vocals and O'Brien plays a simply flawless acoustic guitar. McMillan and Williams add excellent drums and percussion to the powerful lyrics. I hope they follow this brilliant album with another one in the near future.

Droge presents his musical narratives of love and loss, personal loneliness on the road, a best friends suicide and other matters of the heart in a spirited, richly textured manner. A Pacific Northwest artist deserving of a much wider audience.