Easygoing, relaxed, comfortable - not often you hear those descriptions about a rock & roll record, do you? Well, there are narrow minds who'd argue that those adjectives should not be associated with anything labeled as rock, claiming that they are antithetical to the genre's nature.
But Saul Kaye's "Doctor's Orders" is indeed a rock & roll record, and a refreshingly upbeat one, too. These are dark days, raggedly fitted lads belching and yelping their incomprehensible chicken-scratch lyrics over dismal chunks of molten metal. But not Kaye, who sings in an understated yet emotionally involving manner, part folkie, part bluesman.
The softness of the textures is actually deceiving. "The News" strikes the gut with its attack on the Iraqi war and media propaganda; "Boxing With Jim Beam" pulls no punches in its depiction of a woman married to an abusive alcoholic; and "What He's Got" is a morality tale about a greedy man who finally gets what he deserves.
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"Desert Blues" is the biggest winner, a cinematic travelogue with sizzling slide guitar and thought-provoking confessions such as, "And if I meet my maker/I want to know her name."
Although it definitely does not sound retro, "Doctor's Orders" recalls the best LPs from the late '60s - ones that you make think while you're tapping your feet.
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