The Lovers' Album of the Week

Dr. Dog Easy Beat

Dr. Dog's Easy Beat owns the distinction of being the Lovers' first Album of the Week that was not released on the week of its post. While there were a few worthy contenders (particularly Of Montreal's The Sunlandic Twins and Supersystem's Always Never Again), Easy Beat managed to charm me enough to forgo my own strict rules for Album of the Week qualifications and allow this dated gem slip by (Ok, I'm silly. It's only a month old!). Hailing from the city of Brotherly Love but sounding more like a potpourri of the British Invasion, Dr. Dog will no doubt get a lot of flack for wearing their influences so securly on their sleeves. And while there is no denying this criticism, I would much prefer to say that Dr. Dog are a celebrated explosion of their own pop music devotion. I challenge you to find pop songs more infectious than "The World May Never Know," The Pretender," or "Easy Beat". I am reminded of Devin Davis' Lonely People of the World, Unite! (Album of the Week March 18) which was another record of this Nouveau 60's Pop Sound. However, while that album was undoubtedly a creation of the studio, Easy Beat feels more like an album that was captured merely because there happen to be a microphone in the room. It should be interesting to see how the indie kids react to Dr. Dog because I would not be surprised at all if they were to become the next big thing on the level, as say, The Shins. Easy Beat ends with "Wake Up," a song that seems to finish but then starts up again in a low-fi setting where the group is infused in a sing along chanting "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! We're only part of a dream. All the things in your heart like the things in your head. Are they only what they seem?" In the case of Dr. Dog, I would have to answer: No.