There's that thing about vinyl. That thing that grabs your attention. Like, for example, this album being on vinyl in what is a download age. Then there's that thing about press releases. That thing that grabs your attention. Like a band you have never heard of having their very own celebrity spokesmodel that you also had never heard of. So and verily, it was in the best traditions of show business hype that Sarina Valentina brought The Lost Vegas to my attention.
There's not much to say about the band themselves other than they would appear to be from Columbus, Ohio and their main axe man – one Rick Kasper – has excellent tastes in fretbaord firepower. Certainly no expense has been spared in the production of this vinyl release either as it is a full monty 180 gram pressing mastered by none other than that hero of the vinyl junkie, Steve Hall. Sonically, this is, perhaps unsurprisingly given the care that has gone into its release, an expensive sounding g album. In fact, it sounds so good that a close inspection of the sleeve was necessary to see if it was, in fact, a reissue of some rock god's long forgotten solo project.
So, it is clear from the packaging that this band are serious about their music and, in terms of their music, they duly rev their engines for some guitar driven rock that grabs something from every decade since the sixties. "Peace Madonna" could easily be classed as groovy while Fee Waybill would have been happy to have written the tempo shifting "Mosaic" and "Mexican Interlude" threatens to follow Rage Against the Machine into the sunset. Of course, that doesn't mean that The Lost Vegas are a band without their own style, more that they are using their influences as more than a musical crutch with the so good it must be analogue "Ellie D" and the grungy "Biscuit" standing taller than tall here.
"Life Before The Collapse" is something of a curiosity even though it shouldn't be. However, this is today and it is therefore of worth to note that The Lost Vegas sound like a real band that can actually play and "Life Before The Collapse" is exactly the kind of album that you would expect such a band to make. And that is plenty good enough for me.