Perpetual Motion

Album Review

David Holt offers up one safe rock song after another in the vein of both Bob Seger and John Fogerty. Kicking off with the summer-driving "Til the Wheels Fall Off," Holt is helped out by a fine supporting cast, including Spooner Oldham on keyboards. Other times Holt is just as capable of softer, midtempo harmony-riddled pop à la Tom Petty on "Walk on the Moon Again" and the lengthy ballad "Mistaken Identity." One significant departure, though, is the funky pop of "Leave a Message," which recalls the Odds performing "Love Is the Subject." One miscue is the soul romantic cover of Little Village's "Fool Who Knows," which sounds a tad out of place, but more fortunately, the highbrow pop of "Man in the Abyss" resembles Neil Finn. Holt's biggest asset is his ability to play the proverbial musical genre field without sounding out of his league. The boogie-driven "Roadblock" is a great example, as it's basically an old-school rock song that Eddie Cochran would have felt at home performing. The blues-c*m-funk of "Searchin' Understone" takes a little longer to get used to, but it's worth enduring the introductory verse for the pleasing guitar-fueled chorus. The dirge-like honky tonk atmosphere on "One Seam at a Time" features Kacy Crowley on this duet, almost eerily like those duets of Rodney Crowell and Rosanne Cash. It's a myriad of styles that Holt successfully captures nearly every time.