Centro-matic's Will Johnson, like Bruce Springsteen, writes way more than ever makes it to an album. Like Springsteen, that says nothing about the quality of what's left - it just didn't fit the format. Here, 8 songs that didn't make Fort Recovery (one of the best albums of 2006; a double LP in Europe) are collected, and every single track is a gem, from the opening plaintive All This Fresh Mutiny to the aching rock that this band do like no other.

Patterson Hood of the Drive By Truckers considers Fort Recovery the best album of 2006, and it is an impossible task to try to play producer and understand how 8 tracks this great needed to be left behind. The title track is typical Centro-matic, a melody that breaks your heart, choruses that swell with raw and gentle power and a lyric that only hints at its message.

Johnson can do quiet so elegantly that it is easy to see how his 'other' band South San Gabriel can sustain its prolific output too. Other artists who release more than an album a year suffer from real quality control issues - that is far from the case here. The music is exciting, honest and timeless, and hopefully is just a taster for a new album in 2007.

4.5/5

Mike Rea

Site - http://www.centro-matic.com

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