An interesting review of the complete recorded works of the band has appeared at http://strutter.mysite.com/site_header.html
The website is based in the Netherlands and reviews an enormous range of musical genres across the globe.
Please see following full review:-
THE OLD COUNTRY CROWS ‘VARIOUS ALBUMS’ (INDEPENDENT/UK IMPORT/CREEPING CLAW RECORDS)
"Out of Kent, UK comes THE OLD COUNTRY CROWS, a band formed around Gary Virtue (vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica, songwriter), guitarist Mark Griffiths, drummer Craig Wild and bassist Tim Geer. Their same titled debut from 2013 already showed some great material, such as the incredible catchy classic 60s influenced uptempo Powerpop/Garage Rock tune There’s Always Tomorrow that sounds like a mix between classic 60s Merseybeat THE BEATLES/THE HOLLIES, early 80s THE KNACK and 00s THE MADD, so this is basically picture perfect super melodic rocking powerpop at it’s very best, and this would have been a huge hit back in 1965! Furthermore the variety of styles is notable, because there’s also Bluegrass/Rockabilly, a bit of Americana, pure Celtic-Folk and some Singer/Songwriter (BOB DYLANesque) Folk, but mostly it is thankfully catchy uptempo Garagerock/Powerpop like the aforementioned song. The album was produced by the legendary late BERNIE TORME (OZZY, GILLAN, DESPERADO, ATOMIC ROOSTER), and other highlights on this CD are the other uptempo catchy 60s powerpop/garagerock pieces Out In The Sun, Missing You (pure THE MADD!), The Places I Have Been and A Different Angle. This THE OLD COUNTRY CROWS is definitely one of the finest pure/authentic Merseybeat/60s Powerpopbands I have heard in ages, but as mentioned there’s also folk and Americana in-between these powerpop tunes. The band followed this full-length debut album with a Christmas album in 2017 and another full-length titled Behind The Rain in 2020. This album continued the diversity in styles of the previous full-length debut album, with once again as highlights the catchy uptempo melodic fun 60s powerpop pieces such as My Head Is Alright, Hand Of Fate and Not So Long Ago, although this time a midtempo song like Florida Sun and a ballad ish song such as the closing titletrack Behind The Rain sound really great. And now in 2021 there is a new EP titled Listen To Me, which contains 5 songs and is musically following the same path as their earlier albums. Opening title track Listen To Me is once again 60s Garage Rock/Powerpop orientated, but slightly more edgier than the band was before, which of course we don’t mind! Early THE BEATLES is clearly a reference and following this great start is the calmer folky Without You, while All Summer Long has a TOM PETTYish catchy midtempo Americana pop/rock sound. Burned To The Ground is a midtempo THE KINKS/THE BEATLESish folky pop/rocker and closing track Help Me Man is their most rocking so far, because this is a great uptempo classic rocker with a STATUS QUO approach. Slightly less powerpop ish than the earlier albums, THE OLD COUNTRY CROWS shows they are a great diverse band which develops with each new album release, so go check them out at www.theoldcountrycrows.co.uk"
(Points: 8.4 out of 10)
8.4 points out of 10 - we'll take that ! Status Quo is a new comparison but, what a band they were particularly from the period 1970 - 1976.
Although his name has been omitted from the review we must not forget that bass player Ian Bottle has played on all of the recordings to date and his performance cannot be underestimated whatsoever. He underpinned the rhythm section to a professional level.
The band is currently undergoing a transitional stage but we hope that there will be much more to come in the way of new songs during the coming months.
Watch this space !!
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