Dr. Dog
Fate
Park The Van
By Mike Randall
In the waning moments of “My Friends,” Dr. Dog closes out their stunning fifth full-length, Fate, with a recapitulation of a few interludes that had already taken place earlier in the record. A hazy bending of a classic-rock riff from “The Ark” here, the spiraling carnival-like keyboard vamp from “The Breeze” there. What makes this humorous is that pretty much all of Dr. Dog’s music is already a recapitulation of material that was recorded in the 1960s and 1970s, and principally by three bands: The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Band. When vocalist Scott McMicken sings “Turn it down, start it over” during “Uncovering the Old,” he’s telling you exactly where Dr. Dog are coming from.
It would seem Dr. Dog is obsessed with nostalgia, and the overarching themes from Fate do little to alter that theory. Clocks, the past, the present and trains are all concepts that are reviewed here, and their analog sound creates an atmosphere that adheres to looking back. Introspective questions about time and place are littered all over the record right from the get go, as McMicken sings “Do you like things the way the seem or are you looking behind the scenes?” during the album-opening folk of “The Breeze.” Toby Leaman, Dr. Dog’s other lead vocalist asks, “What does it mean to be here?” as “The Ark” unfolds, a track full of biblical references and jagged riffs pulled from “Get Back.”
But the concept of time isn’t limited solely to lyrics. Fate picks up where 2006’s We All Belong left off, with its layers of production elements that don’t feel the least bit slick, but they’ve added a few more hooks, a little more soul and a lot more oomph. Dr. Dog learned from The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, and as always, every bar is meticulously studied to determine how a piano fill or a layer of strings or a guitar trill could make it seem like the merry-go-round is spinning but the scenery is different every round. Add to that the precise backing harmonies lifted from Pet Sounds and Americana textures borrowed from The Band, and you’ve got something new that manages to sound old and ridiculously good.
Where We All Belong fell short and Fate succeeds is that this is a varied affair that feels complete, as if there isn’t anything more that could be done to make these songs better. The sound-to-sound transitions are effortless and most importantly, timeless, especially vocal harmonies like those during “The Rabbit, The Bat and The Reindeer,” which comes off like a cheerful cross between “Cry Baby Cry” and “Eleanor Rigby” before rolling into a bounce-y piano vamp. Leaman plays McCartney to McMicken’s Lennon on “Hang On,” as his soul-drenched yelp is more than an ode to Sir Paul on top of jagged guitars and a rusty slide, a role he revisits during “Army of Ancients,” a classic R&B tune that breaks into a waltz-y circus-like bridge with support of subtle horns and strings. “From” will sound instantly familiar as perhaps the most obvious cross between The Beach Boys and “Hey Jude” ever put to record, but it’s the Tom Waits/Mark Ribot blues-y Cuban work-song stomp of “The Beach” that puts a stamp on Fate as Dr. Dog’s crowning achievement.
There are bands that cite The Beatles as influences and then there are bands that study The Beatles. Nary an act has come and gone in the last forty years that wouldn’t list at least one Beatle record as an influence on their own music, and some have even gone as far as to blatantly copy the Liverpool foursome (Oasis, anyone?), particularly the early, more accessible and straightforward material. But few have the ability to replicate the sounds and textures from latter records like Abbey Road or Revolver (The Beatles themselves never even did it live) and Dr. Dog shouldn’t be faulted for doing so. Make no mistake about it, Dr. Dog isn’t an original species, nor do they claim to be, but it takes a lot more than a cover band or a host of followers to piece together and pull off a work like Fate.
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