Grace Potter & The Nocturnals " The Lion The Beast The Beat" Deluxe Edition

I must admit that I am disappointed with this album.  I set the bar too high.  After learning of GP through fellow music lover Greg A., I've become a big fan, going back through old live footage and guest appearances with Joe Satriani, Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, etc..  That's some heavy duty company to keep and I suppose I expected a heavy duty blues-rock record because of those names.  What I got was a drippingly blatant commercial effort, you know the type, with the over-produced, major label hit blueprint that brings on board the musical flavor du jour (Dan Auerbach). 

The title track opens the record and it's a winner, sounding like I had anticipated, a Heart-styled energetic romp.  Then (insert sound byte of needle dragging across a piece of vinyl), it's as if I had turned on the radio.  Track #2 is the first single and one of the Auerbach-assisted songs.



I don't know if it has charted (doubt it) but it should be a hit.  I dare you to play this song three times and not find yourself singing along on the fourth.  The same can be said for the following four tracks, all potential hit singles with some fine lyric lines throughout...

"We had a skydive love affair, Doomed from the very start"

"I lit a fire with the love you left behind"

"So choke the dawn and damn the daylight, Time is just an invisible line"

OK, so track #6 doesn't contain a great line.  It's another of the Auerbach contributions...that should explain it.  But then we hit the track entitled "Turntable."  GP sings, "I will be your record and you will be my turntable."  Well now, isn't that a tad suggestive?  Then (cue the scratched record sound effect again) she tells me to..."Shut your mouth and put your hands on my high thigh.  Put your needle in my groove. Now watch the way you make me move."  I damn near wrecked the car...



That should make a young man weep and an old man cry... 

I guess for these TV appearances she leaves the micro-minis and short shorts at home. Go ahead, search for these songs live and see for yourself.  You will also discover that "live" is the proper vehicle to deliver the tunes.  GP & The N's are a tremendous concert experience.  The band ROCKS and GP commands the stage in a way that would give Stevie Nicks a heart attack.  Her voice is phenomenal, no treatment needed.  On the studio album she's more Bonnie Raitt, live she's some sort of Ann Wilson/Pat Benetar hybrid with that sexy visual and yowling vocal instrument.  

Of the four remaining tracks on the standard version of the album, two are of the commercial variety :(  and two are winners, including the album's best track.  The vocals may not be mixed well on this live version but the video angle and quality are good.  Give me a barefooted, blonde bombshell who can actually play a Flying V any time...



Whether it's .50 or $2 more, the additional four tracks on the Deluxe version are worth the money.  The first two are again of the commercial classification, one of which makes the keeper cut.  The final two are aimed squarely at the Country market.  GP gets her tequila drinkin' partner, Kenny Chesney, to guest on her song this time.  This version of "Stars" should be a #1 hit later this year on the country charts.  There is an unfortunate line about a fire racing up a mountainside that should force this back to a fourth quarter release at the earliest to let those western wildfires die down.  At its core, "Stars" is a country song and gets the full twangy treatment on this version.  The one found in the main body of the album is too pop-glossed up trying to mask the real roots of the track.  This is a nice example of the intent...



The final song is one she wrote and recorded for her first album back in 2005, but here she has propped up Willie Nelson in the studio to duet with her.  Meh...

I suppose I'm going to keep this record in its entirety just in case it doesn't receive the multi-genre success it so desperately seeks and deserves.  It cracked the Top 20 with the current fan base but has slipped every week since.  By the end of this year, Grace Potter should be a household name and I should not have to play this album again, allowing mass media to do it for me.