The Villains

DCM Records

By Al Kaufman

Remember the '70s? For those who don't, it was a sort of weird time musically. It was the time when country and rock began to merge. It was led by a band from California of all places, The Eagles. If the Eagles formed today, they would be a country band. Whereas back then rock acts integrated twang, today the country acts try to rock, and many of them do it harder than the Eagles ever did. 

The Villains would have fit in well in the '70s. While opening track, "Let's Forget About it Tonight," rocks in a southern-fried, .38 Special kind of way, the rest of the CD settled into a sort of peaceful easy feeling. It's Jimmy Buffet in his more somber moments. 

"Where We Began" recalls the laid-back harmonies of Little River Band. In fact, a lot of songs on here reminisce about earlier days or confront middle age head on. "Party's Over" has a "you're too old for this crap" attitude about it. "Going Deaf for a Living" celebrates life on a stage, but still  hints of resignation. Yes, they decide to play a Dylan encore after last call, but how many young kids rocking out even stop to realize that they may be doing damage to their ears? And while the song has a catchy "hey, hey, hey" chorus, they never seem to turn up the decibels loud enough to do any real damage. 

Dan Call plays bass, guitar, and vocals with the band. He also wrote or co-wrote all the songs and produced the album for his DCM (Dan Call Music) record label, which is based out of Decatur. He puts together a nice package. For the folks who fondly remember the music of the late '70 and early '80s (and Call and his band are old enough to be in that group), this is good stuff. The CD in no way lives up to the naughtiness implied by the redhead wearing the absolute minimal amount of court jester gear on the cover, but guys in their 40s seldom are able to have their actions keep up with their thoughts. Instead, they sit back with a few cold ones and fondly remember the good old days. This is the perfect music to play for such an occasion.