{"id":845,"date":"2020-04-04T21:51:17","date_gmt":"2020-04-04T21:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mikedeangelis.com\/2019\/?page_id=845"},"modified":"2020-04-04T22:53:03","modified_gmt":"2020-04-04T22:53:03","slug":"bottlecap-mountain-dismayland","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mikedeangelis.com\/2019\/bottlecap-mountain-dismayland\/","title":{"rendered":"Bottlecap Mountain: Dismayland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/mikedeangelis.com\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/dismayland_cover-1024x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-847\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mikedeangelis.com\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/dismayland_cover-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/mikedeangelis.com\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/dismayland_cover-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/mikedeangelis.com\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/dismayland_cover-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/mikedeangelis.com\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/dismayland_cover-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/mikedeangelis.com\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/dismayland_cover.png 1950w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption><em>You can purchase either the <\/em><strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"MP3 Download (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B07Z1J4XKS\/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp\" target=\"_blank\"><em>MP3 Download<\/em><\/a><\/strong><em> or <\/em><strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Physical CD (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Dismayland-Bottlecap-Mountain\/dp\/B07XW6TJW7\/ref=tmm_acd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr=\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Physical CD<\/em><\/a><\/strong><em> of &#8220;Bottlecap Mountain&#8221; from Amazon.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Bottlecap Mountain<\/strong> are <strong>Stewart Gersmann<\/strong> <em>(songwriting, vocals &amp; guitar)<\/em>; <strong>Yvonne Love<\/strong> <em>(keyboards)<\/em>, <strong>Bruce Earl<\/strong> <em>(guitar)<\/em> and <strong>Chris Stangland<\/strong> <em>(bass)<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The title track <strong>&#8220;Dismayland<\/strong>&#8221; opens the album, and what awaits you over the course of its 40 minutes is the spiritual core of <strong>Neil Young&#8217;s Crazy Horse<\/strong> persona, the swagger and sneer of <strong>Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers<\/strong>, and everything you ever loved about the <strong>Uncle Tupelo \/ Wilco \/ Son Volt<\/strong> Alt-Country triumvirate. The songs are well written, the band has a keen instinct for pacing the album with full-bore roots rockers and more laid-back tracks, and it&#8217;s a sheer joy ride from start to finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The track <strong>&#8220;Dismayland&#8221;<\/strong> is the one that will immediately make you feel The <strong>Horse<\/strong>, but it also has the world-weary, defiant sound of <strong>Tom Petty<\/strong>. The metaphor of the track, of course, is brilliant&#8230;the &#8220;Magic Kingdom&#8221; sits in a world that in modern times is far from &#8220;magic&#8221;&#8230;the middle of the song will make the hair on the back of your neck as <strong>Stewart<\/strong> speaks the lyrics over an elegiac organ backing from <strong>Yvonne<\/strong>: <em>&#8220;I woke up the other day, and I saw the sunrise, and I thought to myself that everything was gonna be OK&#8230;and for a moment, I could listen and I could breathe, and I could feel that everything was gonna be OK&#8230;you know, we get so hung up on the doom, and the gloom, and down here in Dismayland there&#8217;s nowhere to go but UP&#8230;<strong>and I&#8217;m goin&#8217; UP&#8230;&#8221;<\/strong><\/em> The organ continues for a bit and then a crescendo reminiscent of the brilliant <strong>Garth Hudson<\/strong> spiral from <strong>&#8220;The Genetic Method&#8221;<\/strong> into <strong>&#8220;Chest Fever&#8221;<\/strong> on their <strong>Rock of Ages<\/strong> album, and the band thunders back in all of their <strong>Ragged Glory<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube aligncenter wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio wp-embed-aspect-4-3\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\"  id=\"_ytid_94187\"  width=\"1000\" height=\"750\"  data-origwidth=\"1000\" data-origheight=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/f33sO9eypFU?enablejsapi=1&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=0&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;color=red&#038;controls=1&#038;disablekb=0&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&#8220;The Big Sleep&#8221;<\/strong> begins with sparse percussion and what sounds like a xylophone, and little by little the intensity builds in the second minute of the song, with glorious, fat, resonant electric guitar chords. This is where you&#8217;ll hear the Uncle Tupelo \/ Wilco \/ Sun Volt influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&#8220;Golden Heart&#8221;<\/strong> opens with rumbling guitar and bass, lilting organ, and propulsive percussion. plus some effective stop \/ start dynamics. On this track, the previously mentioned influences are joined by a dash of anthem-driven 80s bands like <strong>The Alarm<\/strong> and <strong>Big Country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&#8220;Complements and Such&#8221;<\/strong> opens with acoustic guitar and blossoms into a tasty Alt-Country track, with the emphasis on Country, and echoes of <strong>Steve Earle<\/strong> and one of the band&#8217;s contemporaries, fellow son of Texas <strong>Bruce Smith<\/strong>. On the chorus, especially the chord changes, you&#8217;ll hear how deeply the influence of <strong>Buddy Holly<\/strong> runs right up to the present day. There&#8217;s even a little early <strong>Fab Four<\/strong> flavor to round things out nicely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&#8220;King of Almost&#8221;<\/strong> is a jaunty rocker, injecting some power pop into the band&#8217;s other influences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&#8220;Cry, Goodbye&#8221;<\/strong> finds us back in <strong>Petty<\/strong> territory, and you can really understand why Tom chose to produce the late-period albums by <strong>Del Shannon<\/strong>, because that&#8217;s the dynamic that drives this one, along with some subtle <strong>Sir Doug<\/strong> and <strong>Augie Meyers<\/strong>-flavored keyboards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&#8220;Poirot Jones&#8221;<\/strong> is another fine slice of Lone Star State balladeering, with a nod to Woody Guthrie&#8217;s &#8220;This Land Is Your Land.&#8221; A bittersweet track with fantastic guitar accents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&#8220;You Float Me&#8221;<\/strong> is a mid-tempo track&#8230;&#8221;When I&#8217;m older, would you want me, would you want me to stay, in your life, when I&#8217;m crazy, crazier than today&#8230;&#8221; It&#8217;s a pure, stark, and honest pledge of undying love, a real gem in an album filled with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&#8220;Metamorphosis&#8221;<\/strong> is another mid-tempo track with more <strong>Beatles<\/strong> accents and a great, chiming guitar solo in the bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The album closes with <strong>&#8220;Cupboard,&#8221;<\/strong> which begins as an acoustic-driven track that builds into one of the most dynamic guitar solos on the album. It&#8217;s all about pacing, and this is certainly a band that knows when to turn it up, and turn it down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If anything I&#8217;ve written about here resonates with you, this album is a &#8220;sure thing,&#8221; an extremely worthy addition to your music collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bottlecap Mountain are Stewart Gersmann (songwriting, vocals &amp; guitar); Yvonne Love (keyboards), Bruce Earl (guitar) and Chris Stangland (bass). The title track &#8220;Dismayland&#8221; opens the album, and what awaits you over the course of its 40 minutes is the spiritual core of Neil Young&#8217;s Crazy Horse persona, the swagger and sneer of Tom Petty and&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mikedeangelis.com\/2019\/bottlecap-mountain-dismayland\/\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-845","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikedeangelis.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikedeangelis.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikedeangelis.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikedeangelis.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikedeangelis.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=845"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mikedeangelis.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":849,"href":"https:\/\/mikedeangelis.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/845\/revisions\/849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikedeangelis.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}