Mambo Sons
Heavy Days
(Omnicide)

For the most part, when I receive a double album to review my skin begins to crawl, because what I usually end up listening to is one great album fertilized with another album's worth of crap. Add the fact that the release is from a completely unknown band (well I know them only because their home base is 20 miles from my front door and I've seen them) and the situation usually deteriorates rapidly. However, Mambo Sons somehow managed to come up with damn near two full albums' worth of very solid material.

Mambo Sons are Tom Guerra on guitars and vocals, Scott Lawson on bass and vocals and Joe Lemieux on drums and vocals, with special guest Matt Zeiner sitting in on keys for several tracks. These three (four) have just released Heavy Days, the fourth release in their ten years of existence and a mighty fine release it is.

Heavy Days' beauty is that you are not stuck listening to the same thing for two hours—it is loaded with variety. "Once in a While" and "Friday Night Wine" are longing tales bathed in swirling organ fills, "You Got Me Fallin'" delivers tasty (I always hated it when reviewers use this adjective but hey, it is what it is) slide and if heavy rock is your bag, then "So Wonderful," "The Only Woman" and the CD's best track, "Single City," which screams of vintage Free, are just what you need. Top it all off with "I Love My Family," which comes across like a late '70s track written for Sly and the Family Stone, and you'll realize that you've stumbled onto that rarity in double records—one that doesn't suck half the time.—Steve Walbridge