It's not very often that I listen to a record by a band I've reviewed 14 times before and find myself so completely blown away that I have to retrieve my jaw from the floor and process what I've just experienced. By now, you all know I love Friends of Cesar Romero. It's never a surprise when J. Waylon turns out another A+ release. There's a certain level of expectation that this one-man band never fails to meet, and I have no hesitation in urging any reader of this blog to shell out $103.75 for FOCR's full digital discography. But new album Soul Scouts finds this band soaring to heights that not even I could have foreseen. The sound J. Waylon captured on this release is absolutely ferocious, and that suits these songs to a T. And the passion he pours into the vocals will give you chills. I've never heard FOCR rock with this much intensity — yet the songs have never been catchier or more instantly memorable. J. Waylon is such a fine songwriter that he can move seamlessly from garage rock to power pop to punk rock to jangly guitar pop and always sound uniquely like himself. But the sound of this release is more cohesive, and it's pure fire. This is either the hardest power pop or hookiest garage punk you'll hear all year. Perhaps it manages to be both at once. We know one thing for sure: Johnny isn't messing around!
Over the course of many installments in the Doomed Babe Series, J. Waylon has made an art form out of writing about heartbreak and the wreckage of love gone terribly bad. No one writes more eloquently or cleverly about loss, longing, and relationship trainwrecks than he does. But Soul Scouts, the 48th release in this series, hits different. J. Waylon is not just spinning tales of woe — he's purging things that have been weighing him down for years. He somehow crams a novel's worth of drama and despair into 18 minutes of music. I've always wondered: Are there many doomed babes in the FOCR universe — or just one? Soul Scouts comes off like a singular tale of doomed romance and one man's long and exasperating quest to find closure. And it's brilliant. It takes a remarkable mind to conjure up a verse like this:
I'd rather starve than share a crumb of your affection
My conscience is as clear as my complexion
Remember the good times when you think of me
That won't be hard with your goldfish memory
My conscience is as clear as my complexion
Remember the good times when you think of me
That won't be hard with your goldfish memory
Soul Scouts is the kind of album people will hear and become totally obsessed with because they'll feel as if its author is telling their story. It's oddly comforting when another person's tale of despair mirrors your own. It makes us feel less alone in the world. This is a tale as old as time itself: a relationship unravels in the most agonizing ways, and even when it's over, it's never really over. Regret and bitterness linger, and moving on is far easier said than done. I love how the energy infused into these songs reflects the urgency of their lyrics. "The Rapid City Is Boring," which is essentially a prelude to the songs that follow, rips so hard that it makes The Hives sound like The Smiths. "Trauma Blonding" and "Air Raid Freshman" are probably too furious and intense to be called power pop but too contagiously hooky to not be called power pop. Likewise, "A Sonnet for Lee Lazy Horse" and "Gate Around the Classy Apple" are punchy pop songs that will rock you into next week. "Brat Summer Heartache," "Tassels," and "Nurse Midwife Crisis" are vintage FOCR garage pop bangers. Future generations will study these songs and question a society that did not appreciate their greatness. "Bitter But Better" is the powerful statement conclusion this album deserves — not quite delivering closure, but surely getting there. What is perhaps the album's most powerful line is also its simplest: "I don’t miss missing you."
In the excellent review he wrote for Add To Wantlist, Niek likens the Friends of Cesar Romero Doomed Babe Series to a great television series that somehow manages to peak in its final season. I wholeheartedly concur. I've only been hip to the Doomed Babe project since installment #27, but I would absolutely rank Soul Scouts as the finest achievement in the series. This is the kind of album most songwriters would deliver as the grand finale, but the numbers tell me that there are two more releases still forthcoming. Part of me listens to this record and thinks, "There's no way he can possibly top this!". But the bigger part of me knows to not bet against him.
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