Brutish Little Ballet

Album Review

I picked this CD to review because I read that Pearce had been in a high-school band called Carnival down San Diego way that was influenced by the Replacements (there they are again!), the Who, the Clash, and U2. He's since grown up, hit the coffeehouse circuit, and moved to New York, and he's now doing the singer/songwriter thing. And though there's really nothing here to distinguish him from ten other Joes doing this same thing at the Bitter End on any given night with their standard backing bands, his heart seems earnest enough. And if you listen carefully to songs such as "Almost a Valentine," you know he's not only into Paul Westerberg's more plaintive material, but old Rolling Stones LPs like Sticky Fingers as well. He just needs to put a little more dirt into this like all the great bands he admires. ~ Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover, All Music Guide