CD Review: Cosmic Shakedown - "Poor Man’s Symphony"

Cosmic Shakedown’s Poor Man’s Symphony is as easy as Sunday morning as the Buffalo, NY classic rock revivalists step into the way back machine to remind us all how melody and groove can be achieved with the employment of simply guitars, drums and vocals. This is stripped-down, bare-bones rock and roll played the way the greats intended; from the bluesy, keyboard-driven opener “Wished Upon” (shout out to keys-man Harold Pollinger for his fantastic work here), and raw, badass grooves of “Sippin’” (which features some damn fine low end from bassist Larry Gartley) to the hazy, laid back Americana of the closing “The Great Unrest.” “Battle of the Common Man” is as good as Poor Man’s Symphony gets, and perhaps as good as Cosmic Shakedown has ever been, a track full of call and response vocals as well as the album’s best guitar work. The production here is somewhat visceral and just about perfect for Poor Man’s Symphony, and really, it would be hard to imagine this EP with any other type of production. At a shade over 12 minutes, this EP isn’t much of a time investment, one of a handful of reasons you should give Poor Man’s Symphony a spin.

Grade: B+

Download: “Battle of the Common Man”