Big in Iowa
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From beginning to end, Bangin' 'N' Knockin' reads like a tribute to one of Big In Iowa's seminal influences, Neil Young; or perhaps Crazy Horse would be a more exact template. The album opens with the helpless, Young-themed plea "Neil's on the Radio," and ends with the band's cover of his 1969 classic "Cinnamon Girl," recorded for the Inbetween Records Neil Young tribute album Another Note for You. Bob Burns still sounds like Van Morrison down to the warble emanating from his scarred and broken soul, and the band still provides a pummeling instrumental backing. It doesn't always play subtle very convincingly -- certainly not as convincingly as Young did on many a ballad -- but then Big In Iowa, and Crazy Horse for that matter, have never been about subtlety. Instead of being only lightly basted in country or rock, the album is fully and equally marinated in both. This is fourth-gear country-rock that skimps neither on the country nor the rock portion of that equation. Even the ballads have a loping heft and density that make this music sit on your chest and pound at your gut, just like the album title promises it will. All influences aside, though, Bangin' 'N' 'Knockin' is a fabulous release, and if Twisted wasn't evidence enough that the band is a superb rock band -- regardless of any sort of "roots" or "country" qualification -- this album brings that fact home with each of its 13 songs. The lack of subtlety does not imply that the album does not have its share of poignant moments. The chorus of "Neil's on the Radio" is melodically and lyrically heartsick, and songs such as "Rewind" and the mournful "Hide Away" expose an unfulfilled yearning. Most of the songs are preoccupied with moving or, more precisely, moving on, and many references are made to autumn with its leaves changing or falling off. The album has a palpable sense of loss and longing, which comes to a head on the slinky "Anna Lee," an ode to a deceased love. And yet, underscoring many of the tunes, from "Miss You," with its blissful harmonies, to the insistent "Summerfall," is a certain joyousness, as if this itinerancy is a choice, not a necessity. Relationships are broken and feelings are hurt, but the road always offers a consistent companion, providing something that cannot be had in one location: constant change. Big In Iowa write better choruses than they do verses, and thematically Bangin' 'N' 'Knockin' tends to be one-note, but the band plays the hell out of that note. Stanton Swihart, All Music Guide Tracks:
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