to listen or purchase
In recent years, the band Vintage Trouble has taken the tactic of leaving their fans wanting more. Their last full-length album, 1 Hopeful Road, dropped in 2015. That project found the quartet crafting a well-balanced album that featured rollicking countrified blues rock tracks such as “Run Like the River” and soulful ballads like “From My Arms.”
In recent years, the band Vintage Trouble has taken the tactic of leaving their fans wanting more. Their last full-length album, 1 Hopeful Road, dropped in 2015. That project found the quartet crafting a well-balanced album that featured rollicking countrified blues rock tracks such as “Run Like the River” and soulful ballads like “From My Arms.”
Vintage Trouble went the EP route on the next two project, Chapter II – EP 1 from 2018, and their latest Chapter II – EP 2. The principals from the earlier projects - vocalist Ty Taylor, guitarist Nalle Colt, bassist Rick Barrio Bill and drummer Rick Danielson -remain the same. However, the EP format appeared to focus the band and they made the most out of the 19 minutes of music that they gave fans on EP 1. The 1980s styled funk of “Do Me Right,” the contemporary pop of “Can’t Stop Rollin’” and old school do-wop styled balladry of “My Whole World Stopped Without You” garnered a lot of love on SoulTracks.
So Vintage Trouble decided to tap into the EP format on Chapter II – EP 2, and once again less proves to be more. EP 2 is a record that is topically diverse, with tunes that range from the politically charged “Everyone is Everyone,” the joy of love in full bloom of “Don’t Stop Forever,” to stripped down and exposed “One Last Goodbye.”
“Don’t Stop Forever,” a tune where the bouncy Motown styled bass line connects with the Nashville infused guitar riffs, has been a mainstay on the SoulTracks Fresh Soul playlist because it perfectly represents everything that is delightful about this album – lyrically strong, infectious and memorable melodies and a vocalist in Taylor who has a proven ability on every level.
"Everyone" is a mid-tempo number that merges a funky bass line, with rock guitar riffs, gospel inspired backing vocal and Taylor’s vocal delivery that somehow manages to be both rapid fire and sermonic. “One Last Goodbye” is torchy ballad that is largely driven by the combination of an organ and Taylor’s achingly vulnerable vocals, as he lays bare his hopes to reset this relationship and push that one last goodbye to a time far into the future. It’s not hard to conceive “One Last Goodbye” and the song that precedes it – the soulful “So Sorry” – as a story arc that begins with a betrayal, a realization that the grass is not greener on the other side and one last plea to return home. Vintage Trouble kept fans wanting more with EP 1. EP 2 will ensure that those fans keep coming back. Highly Recommended.
By Howard Dukes