Pretty cold then?
Featuring a host of guest musicians, this is really a solo album from Scott McCaughey, perhaps best known for his long term association with REM, often dubbed the 'fifth member' (REM's Peter Buck features here, although quite where is unclear!). With The Minus 5 (The Gun Album), he takes influences from many of his other projects to come up with a predominantly lightweight, sixties psychedelic feel.
The first couple of tracks suggest that this is going to be a journey between 60's paisley pop and 60's garage/psyche, with the fulsome string backed 'This Rifle Called Goodbye' and the garage punk of 'Aw Shit Man'. It should be noted however that the latter sounds suspiciously like the Rockin' Ramrods 'She Lied'. This isn't a bad thing, in fact it's one of the better tracks on the album! Much of what follows is rather disappointing by comparison. 'Out There on the Maroon', whilst retaining the 60's feel (this time leaning toward the Beach Boys) is lightweight. 'With A Gun' is a mid paced rambling song. It's pleasant enough. It's also rather mediocre.
The real appeal of 60's music, particularly when it leans towards the garage/psychedelic end of the spectrum comes either in the form of fantastic melodies, quaint quirkiness or pre – punk fuzz menace! Unfortunately the majority of tracks here don't fall into any of those categories. There are one or two gems though, most notably 'Cemetery Row' (for quirkiness), 'Hotel Senator' and 'Leftover Life to Kill'. What prevents this from being a good album is that too many of the songs either don't fulfill their potential or they simply don't have enough dynamics to prevent them just washing over the listener. The prime example of this is the final track 'Original Luke'. Right at the end there is a woefully short burst of frantic garage style solo guitar but as soon as it begins it's over, which ultimately leaves me frustrated when I was really hoping it would evolve into a five minute mash of psyche!
Numerous influences become evident throughout the album, from The Grateful Dead (circa American Beauty) on 'Cigarettes Coffee and Booze', to the Dylanesque vocals of 'Twilight Distillery'. The production is nice and the musicianship is competent without ever really excelling but the overall impression is a feeling of missed potential. It's hard to envisage just where the market is for The Minus 5.