Photo of The Wallflowers by James Minchin

Vivoscene is pleased to announce we will be giving away several CDs of the new Wallflowers release Glad All Over. It’s a terrific recording and you can see our review of it below.

How to win:
1. Like Vivoscene on Facebook first here, or simply click on the Facebook icon at the top right of this page, and then click ‘like” on the Vivoscene Facebook page.

2. Then simply email us here through the link below and tell us the the name of the chief songwriter for The Wallflowers.
contact@vivoscene.com

We will announce our winners within the next 30 days.

Following is the Vivoscene review recently published:

Vivoscene rating 8.0

The release of Glad All Over marks the reunion of Jakob Dylan and The Wallflowers band, and while the event is a welcome surprise for the plethora of Wallflowers fans who had given up on the possibility, it apparently was always in the cards for Jakob. He was quoted recently as saying:

“I always wanted to. I never suggested we were breaking up. We all felt we were losing the plot a little bit and we needed a break. And that year break becomes two years, then becomes three years, and before you know it five or six years go by pretty quickly. I can’t do what I do in the Wallflowers without them. I miss it. I’m happy to put the acoustic guitar down. That was something I wanted to do, but I never planned on hitting the road and just being the guy with a guitar out there. That never has been exciting to me. I came up loving bands and I want to be in one.”

The new album is an aggressive, hard-rocking bounty of intelligent lyrics and some magnificent guitar work, backed by a solid rhythm section in a mix of dynamics that render this recording one of the best of the year to date. It’s an abrupt a departure from the highly underrated Women And Country album that Jakob Dylan released a short two years ago. That album featured acoustic work and some terrific background vocals from Neko Case and Kelly Hogan, as well as some of the best songwriting Dylan has done, particularly with “Nothing But The Whole Wide World” and “The Holy Rollers Of Love”. So wtf, Jakob? You’re getting to be as multi-faceted and as unpredictable as your famous father. There’s not a single tune in the new album that couldn’t come out of Bruce Springsteen or Tom Petty, when, that is, they were at the top of their game. And how does a guy who has been on a solo bent for the better part of six years get his band mojo back? I guess if Neil Young can do it, Jakob Dylan can too. And make no mistake, The Wallflowers really do have the sound of a great band, as opposed to being a vehicle for a songwriter’s outing in the studio.

Standout tracks: the opening number “Hospital For Sinners” gets things off to a fast start, a perfect combination of a great vocal, memorable lyrics and some searing, soaring guitar licks that qualify this track as a strong contender for a high-energy live performance; the end of summer “Misfits and Lovers” with the specificity of a great lost youth song, and the truly beautiful “Love Is Another Country”. The first single from the album “Reboot The Mission” features guitar and vocals from Mick Jones of The Clash, contains both a great melody and a strong lyric (“I lost my sight / but not the vision”) that seems to address the band’s decision to reform. Then there’s “The Devil’s Waltz”, with a rhythm track and a tasty piano that echoes the best work of Little Feat. The strongest song on the album, however, is “It Won’t Be Long (Till We’re Not Wrong Anymore)”; it’s also the strongest argument for Jakob’s decision on the band’s reunion. This number, if done, acoustically, simply wouldn’t have the impact it does; if the producers have any sense all they’ll make this the next single, unless they choose “Constellation Blues”, an uptempo number with a driving beat, shimmering guitar work, a lyric that speeds by so quickly you want to hear it again, and a hypnotic melody. Two stunners in a row that bode well for the success of this recording.

The closing number “One Set Of Wings” appears to contemplate the band’s future (“I’m only trying to get this thing down”). Jakob, take it from this observer. You definitely have more than one set of wings.

Strongly recommended.