Fulmination

The Small Faces became the Faces, Paul Revere & the Raiders turned into the Raiders, and Grand Funk Railroad evolved into Grand Funk, so why shouldn't the Beat Farmers return to life as the Farmers? Actually, the formula isn't quite that simple — when the Farmers cut the album Loaded in 2005, the band featured guitarist and vocalist Jerry Raney, bassist Rolle Love, and guitarist Buddy Blue, all from the Beat Farmers' original run (drummer Country Dick Montana can be forgiven for not showing up, since he died of a heart attack while playing a gig in 1995). But for Fulmination, the second album from the Farmers, Raney is the only former Beat Farmer on deck — Blue died unexpectedly in the spring of 2006, and Love, who had left the music business after the original breakup of the Beat Farmers, has presumably retired his bass once again. The Farmers certainly follow a similar musical path of Raney's best-known band, mixing up country rock, blues, and straight-up roots rock, while drummer Joel "Bongo" Kmak's occasional vocals replicate the goofball basso profundo of the late Montana. However, while Raney's guitar work is still in good shape, his songwriting is a long way from the glory days of the Beat Farmers, and tunes like "Mexicali Nights," "East County Woman," and "Walkin' Back to Lakeside" are disappointing retreads of themes Raney has covered with a lot more fire in the past. And while new bandmates Kmak, Chris Sullivan, and Corbin Turner have solid chops, most of these performances are lacking in energy and drive, and only "Aw Man, C'mon" and "It's Coming" live up to the rowdy spirit of Raney's best work. Ultimately, Fulmination is surprisingly bland music coming from Jerry Raney, and that's one adjective that's never been applied to his music in the past.