The Doughboys – Is It Now?

Releasing “come-back” albums, with time gaps sometimes stretching back to no less than forty years, has become quite usual during the last 10 years or so.

Even though the results mostly aren’t that great, some of them prove that it does make sense if it’s done the right way, with some of the best examples of the latter being The Remains, The Electric Prunes or Nathaniel Mayer, all making sure that they come from the sixties, and at the same time sounding as they’re more than aware that “it IS now”!

In case of New Jersey’s Doughboys, not only do they come back after almost forty years, but this is their first long-playing album ever, after only two singles on Bell back in 1967, and along with providing a full-blown flashback of the time when they were the house band at the Cafe Wha?, with the help of co-producer Kurt Reil (of The Grip Weeds fame) they also sound willing and able to give The Chesterfield Kings or The Stems an extremely serious run for their money these days.

Along with a couple of more than competent period covers (strangely referred to as “obscure songs from the past”) such as Route 66, Ain’t Gonna Eat My Heart Anymore, I’m Crying and Down Home Girl, the originals mostly stick to Stoned-out mid’60s r’n’b (Black Sheep, Hear Me Moan, Maybe I’ve Gone Crazy, Everything That’s Close To You), with an occasional fuzz, thrown in just for the punk of it (Out Of The Night), or sometimes sounding like Them old Irish punkers as well (She Comes In Colors), taking things into the next decade only once (Too Little Too Late), but not farther then just another Stone-throw away.

Being by far less interesting to the Shindig crowd then the actual content of CD, it still might be worth mentioning a couple of facts, such as that drummer Richie Heyman is better known for the last couple of decades as Richard X. Heyman, one of the jangliest power-popers around, while frontman Myke Scavone was in Ram Jam of Black Betty fame.

[Released by Ram 2007]

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