All dressed up with no place to go

I have some male friends who look at female singers and female-fronted bands with such… I have some male friends who look at female singers and female-fronted bands with such disdain that it’s sad. They’re willing to listen to bands with female guitarists or drummers – just as long as they have male singers. And that’s too bad. They are missing out on key artists and bands, like Joan Jett, Hole, Garbage and The Bangles. What they won’t miss are the Spice Girls, Wilson Phillips and Dressy Bessy.

Dressy Bessy’s latest release, creatively titled Dressy Bessy, is mediocre, to say the least. The music isn’t bad, per se, but it really isn’t good, either. The opening track, “Just Once More,” is catchy. Since it’s the first song on the album, it’s going to get the most ear time from those who listen to the album. This is because listeners may only dive three or four tracks deep before realizing that every song blends into the next, with the same three or four chords and similarly paced vocals.

With Tammy Ealom, John Hill and Darren Albert all contributing to the percussion beats, one would think that they would be a bit more complicated. But the drumming is so simple that a second-year band student could play it effortlessly.

It’s so hard not to get stereotypical and say that I can picture girls decked out in Roxy surf wear rocking out to this CD. Though the band hails from snowy Denver, their tunes radiate the feeling of hot sand and crashing waves.

The odd thing about the album, however, is that despite all of the above pitfalls, no single song is so bad that you will want to change the radio station or press the mute button – it’s just so mediocre. It doesn’t make you feel one way or another. It isn’t something to rave about, nor is it something to rant about. It’s an album that’s simply there.