The Coal Men
Beauty Is the Moment
Circle Back Music
by Al Kaufman
When the Counting Crows sold a gazillion copies of August and Everything After back in 1994, bands everywhere, but mostly from California, came out trying to ape their full, majestic, and somewhat whiney, sound. The most successful of these clone bands was probably Train. With two major hits, "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)" and "Meet Virginia," they captured the Crows sound if not their passion. Now here comes The Coal Men, who sound more like they are influenced by the clones than the originals.
The Coal Men have a nice, rich sound. It won’t hurt your ears, but it won’t exactly make them tingle either. It is, in a word, "pleasant." They are a Nashville band with a California sound.
Dave Coleman’s voice has a certain sincerity to it. It can make lyrics like "God I miss Louisiana the way it was before" ("Louisiana") not sound too trite. But then there are cuts like the opening "Pretty Girls," in which Coleman observes, "Aww, Pretty girls/Ooh, they can twist your arm/Make you do what they want you to." Not exactly revelatory information, but for Coleman it is so important that he doesn’t even try to make it fit into a rhyme scheme.
Like the Crows Adam Duritz, Coleman often comes across as a lovable loser. "You are a natural wonder/And I was born to lose" he sings to a woman who, inexplicably in his mind, seems to like him. And in it’s own way, it works. It’s nice stuff, downright pleasant. Nothing less, but nothing more.
The Coal Men play Eddie’s Attic on Sunday, August 17th, with Johnny Bennett. 8 pm. $10/$13 door.
