Santa Cruz Gospel Choir
WAR DANZON
(Brahma Records)

 Every once in a while, you stumble across an album that's so catchy and cleverly assembled, you'd swear the artist secretly coated each track with a layer of crazy glue, it's so difficult to eject from your CD player.

The Santa Cruz Gospel Choir is the new solo project by Jackpot guitarist/keyboardist, Lee Bob Watson. As with his previous self-release, The Sun Years, Lee Bob treats us to the same raspy vocals and blue-collar existentialism we've come to expect from Jackpot, but with a much sharper, almost punk-like political sensibility. As suggested by the liner notes, "This album should be played loud for maximum effect-- preferably on a boombox or car stereo or on radio via some college..." What we've got here is deliciously lo-fi, yet still powerfully melodic. Fans of early U2 and REM's Document will enjoy tracks like "Today" and "Air Strike Remedy," whereas "Born and Raised" might as well have been written by Dylan himself. Lee Bob's lyrics are quick, clever, and often laced with subtle (and not so subtle) irony. Lines like "they want road stops without the roadwork, they want pickup trucks to carry nothing" and "everybody says it's a simple thing, send in the smart bombs and let freedom ring" will stick with you for hours after your roommates finally persuade you to turn down the hi-fi.

Lee Bob's songwriting has a solid core of rock and roll, tinted with every color of musical rainbow, including folk, punk, blues, country, indie, and yes, even a touch of gospel. Simply put-- there's something for almost everybody in this album, (as long as you're not a die-hard conservative) provided you're willing to look beyond the red construction paper exterior and listen to what it has to say.

Make sure to pick up a copy the next time you're at The Beat, and for goodness sakes, buy this man a beer.