Not too much information available on CHRIS LAUBIS, but a quick scan over the guest players on 'In A Wyrd Place', his second release, gives a fair indication of what's on offer. Backed by such luminaries as Richie Scarlett (Mountain), Frank Carillo (Peter Frampton) and Eddie Seville (Steel Rodeo), Laubis treads the boards in a production that is high in conventional rock suitabilities, but, ultimately, low in entertainment or substance.
In all honesty, most of the tracks here, there's 11 originals supplemented with a couple of unnecessary covers, are competently written, played and produced, but, unfortunately, competence is just not enough, is it? There needs to be something else. Some kind of...well, I suppose the words I'm looking for are... soul and emotion.
Tracks such as 'Lovechild', 'Start Again' and 'After Forever' are pale, languid compositions and are hardly worth a first play, never mind a second or third. Yes, there's echoes of Led Zeppelin, Mountain and even Bon Jovi sprinkled liberally throughout, but, ultimately, most of 'In A Wyrd Place' is a colourless disappointing affair.
To be positive for a moment, there is a progressive organic approach to some of the material, which, if truth be told, is light relief from the over-produced electric guitar solos. The odd wafting flute here, the occasional acoustic strum there, helps cover some of the songs with a lovely pastoral shade, but, sadly, it doesn't make up for the overall poor quality.
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Lyrically it's a mess. The opener 'God Is My Girlfriend' contains such squeamish lines as: “God is my girlfriend, she lives upstairs/ I watch her brush her mercy hair” and “God is my girlfriend, truth or dare/She helps me to my electric chair”. And the cover of T-Rex's '20th Century Boy' (which is truly terrible) ends with Laubis shouting over an admittedly tremendous wailing sax, the letters “T.R.E.X.”. Well, I did warn you.
It always pains me to be overly critical, but when material such as this lands in my cd player I'm afraid there's nothing else for it, with the over-the-top rock treatment given to Donovan's 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' being particularly disturbing. One to avoid.
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