Photo taken by: Dave Christopher
@ The Stone Pony on 8/23/08
The Wag opening for John Cafferty
& The Beaver Brown Band
The
Wag with John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band!
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17 Tracks
1. Everyday
2. Already Gone
3. I Know Now
4. Things
You Call Your Own
5. Long Years
6. Everybody Said
7. C.C. Surf
8. We Are Here
9. Driving
10. It Takes So Much
11. Writing On The Wall
12. Barely Legal
13. Even If She Wanted It So
14. I'll Get By
15. Anxiety
16. Fear
17. Despair
New CD REVIEWS
Review of
"Soundtrack to a Silent Movie," The Wag’s
new CD.
David Hirsh for Bluemood © June 2007
The Wag’s new CD "Soundtrack to a Silent Movie"
bends genres to their will and displays how the music of
the 60's has grown along with us. This CD should be listened
to, not just heard. When you listen to the CD with your
eyes closed, you may think you are listening to the Continental
Drifters (or Delaney & Bonnie or Fairport Convention,
before them) not so much because they sound like them, but
because they cover the same territory. The Wag is made up
of versatile musicians and singers who clearly enjoy combining
genres within one song and across songs. Part of the fun
of listening to a band like this is mapping the pieces along
with them; it is not easy to sound like a mix of Metallica
and Richard Thompson, but the Wag pulls it off on “Fear.”
Like the other bands of this sort, the Wag’s alternating
lead vocals and harmonies add to the variety of sounds.
The CD opens with a funky blues Match Box 20 reggae pastiche
setting the tone for what is to come. Be warned if you demand
genre purity in your music you will be disappointed; nothing
on this CD sounds the same as anything else on the CD. They
are a local New Jersey band. If you would like to learn
more about the Wag or to buy their new CD, you can visit
CD Baby, http://cdbaby.com/cd/thewag3 or through their own
website:
http://www.thewagband.com, or www.myspace.com/thewagband.
In these days of easy access, it
is easy to add this collection of songs to your collection.
Artist: The Wag
Title: Soundtrack to a Silent Movie
Label: Self-Released
Written by Joe Hartlaub of Music-Reviewr.com
staff rating
7.0
out of 10
SOUNDTRACK TO A SILENT MOVIE might
be the strangest disc I’ve heard in a while. From an
instrumental and compositional standpoint, The Wag are the
shits. Tight playing, great melodies, the lyrics need a
little work here and there, but what the hey. The vocals…I
mean, they’re not bad, they just don’t rock out,
at least like the material does. It’s kind of like
The Brothers Four or The Vogues or even The Weavers singing
Funkadelic tracks, especially on the, well the funkier tracks
like “Everyday.” It’s…unsettling. But
y’know what? I’m giving them the benefit of the
doubt because the last time I encountered I group that looked
and sounded (vocally) so little like a rock band it was…the
Talking Heads.
Anyway, The Wag is a quartet from
Middletown, New Jersey. They’ve been together for about
eight years and change, and SOUNDTRACK TO A SILENT MOVIE
is, as near as I can figure, their third CD. One of the
members (not the lady) looks a little like Vince McMahon
did before he went crazy. I hear all sorts of influences
flowing through their music, but, oddly enough, none of
the ones that the band members themselves describe. I hear
some ELO and even a touch of the Everly Brothers here and
there, but mostly The Wag sounds like a really decent power
pop band from New Jersey. “Things You Call Your Own”
is a standout track, with some really interesting harmonies
and even some attempts at rounds, if my ears don’t
deceive me. Their lineup, guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums,
are used to great effect throughout, and there are even
a couple of acoustical tracks (“Long Years,” “I
Know Now”) that you can listen to without wishing you
were somewhere else. At least a couple of the group members
are self-identified as Vegans, which has got to be tough
in New Jersey, so while I’d urge them to the Tick Tock
Diner on Route 4 and have a cheeseburger, I’ve got
to respect what has to be a tough lifestyle. And besides
they don’t sound like Vegans, except for the beginning
of “Everybody Said.”
Seventeen tracks, with not a bad
one in the bunch. Some slightly off-kilter pop that you’ll
be humming in spite of yourself later in the day. What’s
not to like. Give SOUNDTRACK TO A SILENT MOVIE, and The
Wag, a listen.
Listen to the Wag sing "Riu
Chiu", a 16th century Spanish Christmas
Carol.
Wag bumper sticker
spotted in Iraq!
The Wag has been put into rotation
on 90.5 The Night. - Request The Wag today.
Click
here
to check out new Wag article!
The Wag has been nominated for the
5th time for Top Pop Band at this year's Asbury
Music Awards.
The Wag opened for Rick
Springfield at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ on
Oct. 16, 2004.
New Long Story Short Reviews:
