Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 07/15/2008
Run Time: 36:32
On the front cover of
Stand Up,
the Del Fuegos third album, lead singer and guitarist
Dan Zanes looks as if he's struggling to stay awake, and it seems sadly indicative of a band that was clearly running out of steam. While guitarist
Warren Zanes and
Tom Lloyd had contributed to the songwriting on the
Del Fuegos' first two albums, on
Stand Up Dan wrote all the songs either by himself or with outside contributors (among them producer
Mitchell Froom), and with a third guitarist, a handful of guest musicians, a horn section and six backing vocalists contributing to the sessions, this album simply doesn't sound like the work of the same band that made
The Longest Day and
Boston, Mass. It doesn't help that
Dan Zanes' voice sounds a bit ragged here, and while having
Tom Petty and
James Burton contribute guitar work to the album certainly seemed like a great idea at the time, the songs just aren't up to what this band was capable of and the performances lack the energy and keen focus of their best work. Between the arrangements and the melodic hooks of tunes like
"Wear It Like a Cape" and
"A Town Called Love," it's clear that
Dan Zanes was embracing his
R&B influences while making
Stand Up, but his voice just isn't up to the challenge of the material, and the oddball experiment
"He Had A Lot to Drink Today" simply sounds like a mistake.
Warren Zanes and drummer
Woody Geissman would both leave
the Del Fuegos after
Stand Up failed to make an impression with either critics or fans, and it's not hard to imagine why -- this album is the sound of a band that has clearly lost the plot.
~Mark Deming, All Music Guide
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