CD REVIEW | DEUCE

In a time of poppy music, it's kind of hard these days to find a straight up progressive rock band. Well, look no further my friends. Psychedelic Breakfast is on the way.

The members of Psychedelic Breakfast hail from East Haven, Connecticut. In 1999, they released their self-titled debut album which made quite an impact on the New England music scene. The album is a combination of nicely composed ditties and free formed jams and shows a lot of maturation for a first release.

Seeing Psychedelic Breakfast live is often a euphoric experience. Each member brings something tremendous to the stage. Guitarist Tim Palmeri plays with the energy of the whole crowd and each jam he builds up hardly ever comes down. Tim cites Frank Zappa as one of his main guitar gurus. Bassist Ron Spears adds the one element that every band needs, an underlying groove Keyboardist, pianist and vocalist Jordan Giangreco is your laid back jazzy keyboardist. His work on the Hammond and numerous keyboards leans towards a mystical jazz sound. Jordan’s vocals are quite impressive as he handles lead vocals on a large percentage of tunes in the Breakfast repertoire. Drummer Adrian Tramontano brings the most exciting element to Breakfast. His style which mirrors John Bonham at his best gives Breakfast the constant intensity at each show. His drum solos are mesmerizing as Adrian pounds away like Thor the God of thunder. The energy Adrian puts in is unimaginable to the human ear but not to the naked eye. The only way to truly capture the energy is to see it for yourself.

Three years and a large catalogue of songs later, Psychedelic Breakfast has released their sophomore album aptly titled Deuce. Deuce is the most stellar rock album I have heard since the Disco Biscuits' Uncivilized Area. This album has not left my CD player ever since I received a copy two weeks ago.

Deuce opens up with "Tribal Funk Affliction," a 13 minute masterpiece. The song starts out very upbeat but then suddenly shifts time signatures creating a very mature sound. The organ breaks down each part and then leads to another change in time, this time lead by Tim on guitar. After the second trip to the euphoric chorus, the band quiets down as the bass and guitar start to play a very chilling chord progression. At this point, Tim and Adrian slowly take the progression to a violent peak. This part of the song is the perfect example of how Breakfast is live. Finally, Tim and Adrian syncopate and return back to the second time shift and play off it for a little bit and bring it to another peak, while playing a different progression. During this part of the song, Breakfast demonstrates a lot of tension and release methods. They then switch over to a latin like groove which stops as all four members sing in a beautiful harmony which suddenly stops and leads into a short, suprising funk jam. The funk jam then speeds up to the original theme of the song. Definitely a spectacular way to start off the album.

Next off is the track "See the Light" which starts off in a very chill fashion as Tim strums a simple chord progression. Next comes the vocals which, includes special guest Meg Johnson. "See the Light" is a tune which is all about freeing your mind and isolating all of your thoughts in order to find yourself. The song has a very embryonic journey feel to it. Adrian kicks in a fast latin beat and the intensity begins. Jordan demonstrates some beautiful vocals. Then they switch to another latin jam which contains a very placid piano solo by Jordan along with some congas adding to the beauty. After one more reprise to the chorus the band jams out the rest of the tune while Jordan adds some trippy synthesizer to the jam. The jam then slowly fades out in a very psychedelic manner.

"LDZ" is track number three and just flat out rocks. Right off the bat the song takes on a strong presence as the band plays in syncopation with each other. Bassist Ron Spears handles lead vocals and slaps the hell out of his bass through out the whole song. After two verses the jam begins as Tim goes off the wall creating a very insane peak.

After "LDZ" comes the mellowed out fan favorite "Phaddy Boom Baddy." The song starts off as a very relaxing and funky reggae tune. The lyrics are pretty pro-green and deals with people making their own decisions regarding personal use of marijuana. The song also contains some significant time changes and jams. One jam is particularly intense as suprised as you may be contains another violent peak. After the peak one more verse is sung and then the fun begins as the band brings out the Phaddy Boom Baddy Chorus to help out with some vocals. All in all, a pretty fun tune.

Next is the absolutely beautiful acoustic song "Question Mark and the Mind." In this question Tim declares his love for fusion. The song may be acoustic but it still gets pretty heavy as Tim delivers wisdom to the listener. Listen very closely for a beautiful acoustic bass solo by Ron. Following the bass solo comes a short classical piano solo by Jordan. This track was a suprise to many fans because they rarely play it live.

From the first bar of "Beef Barley" you will instantly have a huge grin on your face. The song’s chords are very funky and just plain old happy. "Beef Barley" sounds like a very funky campfire sing-a-long. Jordan demonstrates his funky organ skills while Adrian keeps a nice funk beat. But each Breakfast song on the album is incomplete without some kind of jam. "Beef Barley’s" jam is more groove oriented than rock as Ron and Tim form the funk together like play doh. If the Grateful Dead ever wrote a funk song "Beef Barley" would definitely be it, the vocals are very Dead-esque.

For an album to have a song like "Buquebus" on it, that album there is already a classic. Right from the get-go the time changes are on and off while a hard driven rock groove starts. Jordan nicely handles vocals while Tim sings along with the notes and in time. This is the third of the multi part composed tunes. After the main theme Ron lays down a creepy bass line while Jordan and Tim add some spacey effects. This part is one of many parts where Adrian is the one who brings the jam higher and higher. The lyrics then kick in with some interesting stop-start jamming. Finally Jordan’s vocals kick back in but the song has changed its theme. After some more start-stop jamming they end up in a nice funky jam which eventually turns into a peak free for all as Tim takes soloing to new heights. Tim has his own very unique style that just tantalizes the ears for more and more.

The second to last tune, "What The Funk" is a fusion of rock and funk. This particular song is just really funky and fun. In keeping in theme with the rest of the album, "Funk" contains some interesting time changes. But this is only the calm before the storm.

By far the best song on Deuce is "Mooboo’s Voodoo (Episode 2)." This song demonstrates everything amazing about rock music. Right from the get go the song shows some intensity but then slows down to a nice spacey groove. The band’s vocals on "Mooboo’s Voodoo" are very bluesy, showing a mellifluous harmony during the chorus. The song just moves on and on as Tim pounds out some killer riffs. The song finally takes on a very laid back space jam and segues into a Hendrix-esque section featuring Tim on vocals. And then the fun begins as the song changes into a descending chord progression. At this point Tim and Adrian’s voices are working very well together as they lead into the last jam on Deuce. The jam on "Mooboo’s Voodoo" is the most intense moment on this already intense album. Adrian and Tim seem locked as they each up the jam more and more. The jam seems like it can never go down but Tim eventually takes it back to the vocal section right before the jam. Finally the band goes back to its main theme as Deuce slowly fades out.

To me Psychedelic Breakfast represents everything that makes me want to live. Their music provides the soundtrack to my life. Every time I listen to Deuce, I can’t help but think how wonderful everything seems. The grass seems greener and the air smells and looks cleaner. These four men that make up Psychedelic Breakfast are the men who will make thousands of people experience happiness and euphoria through jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring music. Deuce is a perfect example of this musical utopia. Without Deuce and Psychedelic Breakfast, I don’t know where I’d be.

Psychedelic Breakfast is the future of rock music. They have the talent and drive to become the nation’s next super, successful jamband. Hopefully most bands will be influenced by Psychedelic Breakfasts’ unique straight up funk and rock. For more information please visit www.psychedelicbreakfast.com or to purchase Deuce or the band's self-titled release please visit www.sonancerecords.com.