21st Century Boy Scouts
'Gold Cash Gold' sound surprisingly sober considering they are touring with 'Five Horse Johnson' who are notorious for drinking copious amounts of alcohol. Lead in track 'Diamond Mind' is an average beginning to an album that sits on that dangerous divide between bad and brilliance. It sounds washed out and faded like a pair of well-worn jeans. Luckily, second track 'Vultures' kicks off with an ear pleasing guitar solo before Steve Zuccaro launches into vocals that have a warm, slightly jagged edge- if only this had been placed first it would have given the entire album a brilliant starting point to slide into the monotonous drone which follows, interspersed with small trinkets that glitter with promise.
It descends into the start of 'The World In My Mind' which rises and dips like a house martin on a June breeze. Already a decidedly warm summer feeling saturates this album. The song continues in this rise-and-fall pattern for about three minutes. Do not expect Gold Cash Gold to vary their songs greatly once they have started. This song plunges into the Floyd-esque guitar playing of 'Hard Times', one of the most heartfelt highlights of this album. An acoustic guitar is whipped out for 'Beautiful Stones'. If the Boy Scouts were to bring themselves into the twenty first century, this song would undoubtedly be on their list of campfire songs.
'Let It Go' has a Deep South twang attached to it that refuses to leave even though it is detrimental to the songs core sound. It contrasts with the accompanying words, but maybe this is what makes Gold Cash Gold (at times) such an interesting band to listen to.
Not even the slow chug of 'Damaged' can compare to the much more upbeat 'Same Old Blues' which reeks of the stale alcohol of yesteryear. That pair of faded jeans comes back to haunt you, but this time they're splattered with mud and worn by an aging rock fan who you wouldn't like to meet in the car park of your local shop beyond 10pm.
'Run Brother Run' ambles along but leaves no lasting impression and so it is up to the stunning 'I Know' to pick up the pieces. It's guitars sound huge, the vocals have lost the irritating drone that was present only a few minutes before. This is the track that lets you see what it is that Gold Cash Gold are capable of when they really try. A brief instrumental follows. Unfortunately, this is much better than several other songs on this album, far surpassing the next song 'Isolation'. 'Time To Go' brings Paradise Pawned Volume 1 to a rather disappointing close, highlighting that although Gold Cash Gold are capable of moments touching upon brilliance, for the most part they stumble along without direction.