About Me
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Review From:Americana-Uk.com
Pub rock New York style
This prolific New York based quintet have averaged almost one album a year since their inception in 2000, and Cursed Blessings marks a further refinement of their brand of powerful bar room rock tempered with a strong pop sensibility. The anthemic opening bars of "Steady Man" proclaim lustily, "We play and sing and we drink" and surely go down a treat in a live setting, though the song sweetly informs its subject that despite such good time pursuits, "I'm your steady man". This is feelgood rock, complete with harmonies and trumpets which feature throughout the record. "Y Won't U B The 1 4 Me" is a foot tapping rip through the tale of the steadfast boy who is always passed over, whilst the melancholy "Isn't Love Supposed To Last" is a slower tempo affair. Keen to turn their hands to a variety of subjects, The Mercenaries delve into folk rock on "Fences And Walls" and create a rather overwrought dissection of their love/hate relationship with their North American neighbours on "Canada".Cursed Blessings is lively and fun despite the band's limitations, and although lyrically and musically things are a bit pedestrian at times, there is a vitality and a variety which keeps things interesting.
The Mercenaries "Why Won't U B The 1 4 Me"
The Mercenaries 8th album,"REPACKAGED TO SELL AGAIN" collects 16 b sides from
various singles from 2000-2007 with insightful liner notes for each song by
Altogether Steve. Despite the fact that this is essentially an album of
outtakes, most of these songs are as powerful as any of the ones on their proper
albums, and if anything, show a more diverse side of styles that the Mercenaries
are capable of playing, from pure rock'n'roll "Ride", instrumentals "PS1
Factor", zydeco "Alligator Man", country/rockabilly "Start spreading the blues",
folky ballads "Two sided street", to their glorious cover of ABBA'S "S.O.S.".
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CD Reviews
How Sweet The Sound
By: Alex Steininger ("In Music We Trust" magazine, September-October 2000)
Shimmering, shiny pop hooks that sparkle coupled with a strong rock aesthetic. The Mercenaries deliver a powerful rock that isn't afraid to get timid and soft before blasting out the noise that will floor you.
"How Sweet The Sound" is a soft folk jaunt through acoustic guitars and tender vocals, while "Oh, What A Time We Had" is a jangly rocker. "All That I Need" is a piano ballad that will bring you to tears, while "Stormbirds" is a complete guitar rocker sure to light a fire under your ass and get you moving. And, of course, there is "Stop The Clock", an ambitious rock sure to turn some heads.
The Mercenaries blend pop and rock perfectly, serving up something that can be felt and move too, which is a hard equilibrium to reach. The album is jangly and tight, punchy and powerful, and most important, lively. I'll give it a B+
The Last Resident In A Tourist Town
By: Alex Steininger ("In Music We Trust" magazine, April 2002)
Rootsy rock 'n' roll brought up on pop, The Mercenaries capture peacefulness and infectious-ness on The Last Resident In A Tourist Town. An album filled with cliches like the line "Of all the things I've lost, it's my mind I miss the most" ("What You Think and What I Know"). Even with a few things against them, they still make it fun enough to ignore their downsides, as you bop your head along to their seemingly easy hooks and simple beats. This is carefree pop-rock you can put on, feel a smile creep across your face, and know that things will be alright. I'll give it a C.
The Last Resident In A Tourist Town
By: Rich Kaminsky (WPKN - FM Bridgeport, Connecticut, 2001)
Earnest and well-crafted pop-rock pours fourth on "The Last Resident In A Tourist Town", the second disk from NYC's The Mercenaries. Altogether Steve Rutyna has really honed his songwriting skills, clearly evident throughout the 17 tracks. Sure, you'll find the 'standard' Mercenaries trick of pairing amusing twists on standard clichés with driving pop rhythms and sweet harmonies. But the music really stretches out this time, ranging from some tasty horn arrangements to even some reggae beats. And the subject matter moves beyond the instant appeals to the female of the species to songs of varied social commentary. Where are the Mercenaries headed? It'll be well worth your time to listen and find out.
4 out of 5 stars: Highly recommended
Outpatients On Patrol
Their latest release, a double CD titled "Outpatients On Patrol" is their most sophisticated effort to date, with longer songs, beautifully crafted melodies and poetic lyrics, like "Along The Shakespear Row and "The Ocean Is The Rain", which blend well with the more raunchy "Feed The Fire" and "You Can Take the Girl Out of the White Trash, But You Can't Take The White Trash Out of the Girl".
The Hanging Tree
By: Chris Kriofske (Splendid magazine 9/24/2004)
The Mercenaries wouldn't easily win a Battle of the Bands contest, especially in their New York City home base. Inevitably, the judges would give some younger, flashier, more polished and technically proficient outfit the grand prize, but I'd bet these guys could emerge as underdog audience favorites. Who wouldn't take to musicians with this much bar band passion, lack of pretension, and undeniable warmth, save for the most elitist of rock aesthetes?
On their fourth album, the sextet fleshes out their straightforward guitar-bass-drums-keyboards line-up with accordions, fiddles and mandolins (the latter two courtesy of new member Diane Stalkwell). The results are a Celtic rock hybrid not unlike Black 47, although "Altogether Steve" Rutyna is a less mannered, more natural vocalist than Larry Kirwan. Owing just a little to Joe Strummer's exuberant, tune-wavering punk troubadour style, Rutnya and his band are most effective at excitable, rollicking tempos. "Starlet" gets a lot of mileage out of a near-killer hook, a Los Lobos groove and charming lines like "And at the bar you always ask / for something strong in a dirty glass". A martial beat opens and propels "Out On the Town Tonight", and no matter how corny Rutyna's lyrics, about someone's 98-year-old father, read, they're delivered fervently enough that you'll want to dance and drink a few pints anyway. "Missing, Presumed Dead" (which essentially retells the plot of the classic film noir Laura) benefits astutely from Stalkwell's searing, sawing, distinguishing violin, as does the story-song "The Toast of Jonestown". Halfway through, after a false ending, a lone acoustic guitar and her violin slowly creep back in, gradually re-joined by the rest of the band, all building up to a grand, burning finale.
Comparatively speaking, the album's ballads seem either a little hackneyed ("Bury Me Back Home") or pretty but dull ("O, Wild Wilderness"). If the reactionary, apparently irony-free "Old Tradition" feels out of place and the epic, eight-minute closer "Everything Is You / Slowly, With Feeling" stumbles a bit, they're minor faults, easily overlooked. Fortunately, the mid-tempo "Old Picture, New Frame" emphasizes the band's strengths, undulating through a neatly woven guitar tapestry that strikes an ample balance between the traditional and contemporary elements of their sound. The Hanging Tree showcases a band in transitional mode, but its strongest moments seem like encouraging stepping stones to something possibly victorious.
5 Star HotelSome bands slog on year after year and eventually stagnate. Some fly from trend to trend, style to style, without any consistency. And a rare few actually get sharper, more focused and progressively better. Their 5th LP shows the Mercenaries to fit into the later category. Still planted firmly in the "rock" bin, and working themes familiar to those who spend a good portion of their time in bars - either working, drinking, playing or all three. The gorgeous ballad "Barmaid" is a case in point. "Everything's Harder Than It Looks" has a serious Clash/Strummer dub feel, chronicling the mishaps of some poor n'er do good, with the disarming dubbed out harmonium evoking some sympathy for the sap. There are plenty of hard luck stories of relationships gone bad (Keep On Walking", "Closer To The Light", "When You Let Go...") and bitter swipes at worthy targets, all with a sense of justice and purpose (in "Old Models", "My Dear", "Useless Interventions", "It's Not Over..."). "Traveling Slowly Downhill" recalls an earlier, darker, "Darkness On The Edge Of Town"/"Racing In The Streets" era-Springsteen. All clean except trk 7 @ -1:16.
Locks, Looks and Hooks
On "Locks, Looks and Hooks", their 6th and latest CD, New Yorks The Mercenaries showcase their brand of boozy melodic rock anthems that are begging to be played for a stadium crowd. "The Fortunate One" (trk 6) and "Down On The Tracks" both move like a choo choo train chasing after a defenceless baby deer, while "Give My Reguards" (trk 1), "Clocktower" (trk 3) and "No Voodoo, No Madman, No Preacher" (trk 9) acheive a grandiose gospel feel with added horns and female backing vocals remeniscient of Van Morrison and The Stones - Exile period. All tracks clean.
We Built It And No One Came
* Rich Kaminsky - WKPN
"We Built It And No One Came" is awsome! Okay, I suppose I should have expected more of the same voluminous spirited rock from these guys, but it is simply great to hear new Mercenaries music.
I particularly liked "Waiting Up", "A Man With More Than One Thing On His Mind", "Your Face Tells The Story", "Bullets Fly", "I Gave You My Name" but this is a great, consistent listen. I'll be highlighting on my New Music Review tonight.
* * * * out of five stars.
* On their 7th album, New York's The Mercenaries deliver an appealing mix of styles from sly elements of vintage Who "Don't Call Off The Search" (trk 2), catchy power pop gems so addictive they should come w/ methadone chasers, "A Man With More Than One Thing On His Mind" (trk 4), "Blackfoot Tribes" (trk 7), stadium ready rock "Your Face Tells The Story" (trk 5), "Destiny Decides" (trk 16), alt. country "Deep In The Dirt" (trk 9), to ballads that could bring a tear to a glass eye "Land, Air & Sea" (trk 17), "Picture Me Perfect" (trk 3), & the Burt Bacharach like "A Parting Of The Ways" (trk 14). All clean. Recommended for fans of The eels, G.B.V., Replacements, Stones, Wilco, Dylan.
