MUSIC! 'I Don't Want To Dream' by The City & Horses

So I put this on. This is by the band The City & Horses from Brooklyn. It's breezy at first, there is some vocal octave melody. It's peppy! There's a sort of 1980's clean feel to it, maybe like Marshall Crenshaw or a more effeminate Elvis Costello, at first. Then the second song comes on, 'Little Finland'. I will say that I can't agree as I feel Finland is a small land mass, but this is not important! Ha ha! The music is sort of an R.E.M. with clean guitar and strums. Vocally, it's kind of more high. And there is a flute!

By song three it is a little bit of early Modern Lovers but a little lighter in delivering in the performance and singing. This singer is far better than The Modern Lovers. If maybe Gordon Gano and Jonathan Richman had taken vocal lessons. It's very pleasant to be sure. The rhythms are very 50's 'Peggy Sue'. The sound is very clean. 'I Love The Girls' is sort of more down the road of the aforementioned bands. Then there's a girl singing (maybe this is the girls about he is singing?) It is very competent, but it is also very smooth.

'Russian Military Badges'. Now this I really like! A lot going on here, almost Beatle-esque, some nice changes and arrangement. It's got some edges to it, although there is the girl singing again! He loves the girls! Ha ha! These lyrics are very high. Overall, lyrically it is very strong, there's much whimsy. 'I Am Such A Drag' also has a nice flow, almost like a Reggae song in some way. 'Your Father's Factory' starts like some Culture Club, then it moves into a new zone. It is 80's too! In fact there's a lot of that decade around on this. 'Pierre the Arab' is a classic closing number that really reminds me of a better sounding Dead Milkmen.

Overall, this is a very pleasant recording. I must say, on second listen, the straight ahead songs with more pep are now more appealing to me. Sometimes there's a lot of instruments. I like the lower angrier type singing as well, but that doesn't mean the other high parts are not good. There's a few different bands in here, I would say, also not a bad thing overall.

It would be something to hear the band go stripped down and more sharp angle maybe. In fact, the album is a lot like one of the lyrics: 'I love coffee and I love tea!' Sometimes it is peppy and hot. Sometimes it is breezing and relaxing. Some records are very good like this.

There is a secret rocker in the singer Marc and he's got many of the awesome talent of some of the great 80's punk and indie musicians it seems. He also can write. So maybe on the next installment could be more coffee and let the caffeination do the talking!