Album Review- Gina Villalobos "Rock N Roll Pony" 1

Gina Villalobos - Rock'n'Roll Pony

Gina Villalobos spent a number of years playing in the bands Liquid Sunshine, The Mades, and the garage-pop trio, Dragster Barbie (where she played drums) before embarking on a solo career in 2002 with the album, Beg From Me. Her second release, Rock 'N' Roll Pony was released in 2004 in the US and has now been made available in the UK. There is certainly a rock influence, as you would expect from an album of this title, but there is also a discernable country twang. This is firmly established from the very start with Sean Caffey's pedal steel introducing on the opening track, California. When the country rock vibe is combined with Kevin Haaland's prominent electric lead guitar there are some similarities to The Rolling Stones' Exile On Main Street era. One can also discern shades of Lucinda Williams in Villalobos' voice and love words (especially on So Much For Dying); and on What I'd Give, Villalobos sounds remarkably similar to Tift Merritt. All the songs are composed by Villalobos, except for a well executed cover of Karl Wallinger's Put The Message In The Box (a single for World Party in 1990). Gina writes attractive melody lines and uses words that appear to be selected as much for their phonetic qualities as their meaning. One of the best examples of this is the natural rhythm of words on Faded.

Her songs are vignettes rather than comprehensive narratives and they can sometimes be a shade enigmatic and ambiguous, but are always elegant and leave plenty of scope for the listener to use their imagination.

The mellifluous nature of Gina's lyrics allows her to use her voice in a very musical way. She can sing sweet and pure, but she also has a more raunchy edge on the rocker tracks. She is well supported by some solid performances including cameos from a number of musicians including Anne McCue on banjo.

The only thing that lets the album down in the rather flat, muddy production that often leaves Gina's voice languishing too far down in the mix, battling to be heard. This is a rare flaw in an exciting album from a talented songwriter and confident performer. See her when she tours the UK this month and next. - (Country People Feb 2005)




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Album Review- Gina Villalobos "Rock N Roll Pony" 2

Album Review By- Richard Cooper for SONGBOOK

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then the likes of Sheryl Crow and Lucinda Williams should be glowing with pride at this latest offering from their musical offspring, but at the same time watching their backs on the stregnth of this release from Australia's Laughing Outlaw Records.

As Bob Harris wears out the grooves of his copy of the CD, claiming record of the year already (hell, Bob it's still snowing here) you should know that you will hear alot more of this disc of the coming months, and rightly so. Starting out gently with some purring steel on the melancholy opener "California", strides are quickly gotten into and grooves attained as "Not Enough" lopes across the speakers in a cowboy style. With each song you can almost see the videos likely to accompany the tracks for heavy rotation on MTV, and they'll end up reading like a list of friends episodes- the quirky one in the bar; the one in the open top car with laughing, perfect mates; the one kicking sand in the desert, and so on.

At times Gina's singing is reminiscent of the long lost Hazeldine and on "Why" she's got the lovely catch suggestive of Cerys Matthews gone Americana/Country. Throughout, the production is crystal clear, with the wonderful Adam Schmitt on mastering duties. The musicinaship shines through on every track and guitar duties are shared between Gina, lead guitarist Kevin Haaland and Sean Caffey on weeping steel. Shame that Emmylou has already used the name Hot Band because that's what we have here. "What I'd Give" has an amazing Cash twang and easy-going country pace that forces you into a good-time smile. There's an obvious background of classy roots-rock influences with the Stones, Gram Parsons and Niel Young lurking in the mix and with eleven of the twelve tracks self penned, it's a joy to listen to. The other number is Karl (World Party) Wallinger's "Put The Message In The Box" wich gets my vote anytime.

Overall, a stunning debut wich Laughing Outlaw must be well pleased with. A translation from a dutch website describes the album as follows: "... the musical accompantment is your lick off fingers at. It is nourish a CD and lief to have. Much more beautiful they have not been made this year". You can't argue with that. A class act.

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Album Review- Gina Villalobos "Rock N Roll Pony" 3

Album review from JB HI-FI

It's hard to explain how good an album sounds when its "just" another (country) rock record - however this one is done so well that the word "just" becomes little more than an insult. So: picture that rare occasion when Sheryl Crow manages to get it all together and you realise how good she should be. Take that sound and run with it. remember when "The Boss" (TM) almost had the sound AND the feel? Go with that as well. Getting the idea of whats going on here? But: keep in mind these are truly great songs like Lucinda Williams used to write (no, really!). Go on, give it a try - you'll be knocked out by just how good (country) rock can sound if it's done properly.