‘Jeff Kelly and The Green Pajamas are usually associated with psychedelic rock... so why Country? Why now?’ asks the press release rhetorically. Apparently, Jeff’s long had a liking for country, and having exhumed some songs penned back in the mid 80s decided the time was right to revisit those songs and write some more in order to indulge his hankering to write an album inspired by Johnny Cash and Hank Williams.
In fairness, it’s not all that bad. ‘Pass Me Another Whiskey’ is a drawling country rocker that for some reason reminds me of the Steve Gibbons Band’s ‘Down in the Bunker’. For the most part, though, ‘Green Pajama Country!’ is as cliché as the cover art. ‘Honkey Tonk Girls (At the Little Red Hen’ is the worst kind of country by numbers that could be any band playing in any bar, or, worse still, a ‘Whose Line is it Anyway’ hoedown.
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Elsewhere, ‘Winter of ‘23’ sounds more like Bon Jovi – think ‘Blaze of Glory’ or ‘Dead or Alive’ - only without the lighter-waving chorus. Plus it’s seven and a half minutes long. The dolorous ‘She’s Gone, She’s Gone, She’s Gone, Daddy She’s Gone’ also suffers from being over-long, clocking in past the nine minute mark. The climax is nowhere near compensation for the turgid repetition.
I really was willing to give this album a chance, but it blew it, repeatedly, with its hackneyed stylings, and with a running time in the region of an hour, it’s a long album. Life’s too short.
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