Gary Dranow and the Manic Emotions – Destiny Road (Album)
If you’re looking for music – I mean REAL music, handmade, full of texture, emotion, and soul – just stop and sit down with me. I found exactly what you’re looking for.
There’s this Park City, Utah-based blues rock trio that creates music with a wise undertone. Music that feels like it has seen and done everything, blended with a special relaxed life and stage experience.
Spanning 14 songs that contain pretty much every vibe and emotion there is, the recently released album “Destiny Road” feels like opening a book you wanted to read for a long time. Opening the first chapter of the album is the track “Destiny Road”, a vintage-flavored slow groove that draws its soul from the relatable vocals and guitar themes that feel like aged wine. There’s a certain uplifting empowering vibe present in the tune, but not a youthful, inexperienced one, it feels like one of these decisions you thought about for a long time, finally making the decision and going forward with it. Once this decision has been made, “Something About You” feels lighthearted and uplifting, with a certain summerish vibe connected to the track. You gotta love the playful melodic approach of the track, creating a bright atmosphere in which this ode to someone special is taking place.
And then there’s “(Made It) Another Day”. With its signature-styled scenery created by the melodic backing, the track feels like scratching and clawing through the struggles of life. Overcoming obstacles, being beaten down by life, being helped up by life, and everything in between – for me this tune pictures how it feels to live. Another parallel of life that the tune creates is those perfectly placed extras. The track is upgraded with what I’d like to call “pivotal moments” – small seemingly random events that change the face of the whole outcome. (By the way, it’s exactly these events that give blues rock its distinct flavor.) With “Kisses”, the album presents an almost driving-at-night vibe, the tune is a classic rocker that fills the room with a certain retro-textured energy. “Fool Outta Me” brings a different style to the table, in a relaxed setting enriched with vocal harmonies and bell-ish extras, the story is told with a dynamic approach as the driving drums get along well with the roomy guitar solos and the seen-it-all vocals.
The next stop on the road of rockin’ wisdom is the track “Day I Was Born”. Being a drummer myself, I love this George Thorogood-ish flavor of the track. It’s fun to play, and fun to listen to. Such sounds played live can easily hit the ten-minute mark when the band feels like it. With the guitar groove and this special piano-induced local bar atmosphere, the tune tells its story with that positive, feelable aura. As you may have noticed by now, this track is one of my favorites on the album. “Windows” shifts gears a bit, creating a rather lonely atmosphere while reflecting thoughts and feelings in a defensive and held-back manner. The sound and its intention still transmitted loud and clear, but this time, more emotionally and sensitively. That tune emphasizes the versatility of the album, every important aspect of l being pictured appropriately.
With “Twisted Minds”, the album picks up drive again. You gotta love the additional vocals used there, they give the tune an unexpected injection of soul by adding texture and a wholesome vibe along the skilled guitar solos, making this tune both a driver and a whirlwind of sound. “When the World Is Too Much” gives an intimate insight into the soul of Dranow. With the album being an autobiographical and deeply personal musical journey, this slow melodic chapter contains a melancholy that acknowledges feelings without getting sobby or anything, because there’s this rocking heart present at all times. The same statement goes for “A Girl Like Yours”, portraying human thoughts and emotions in the most universal language there is, the tune uses a basic solid musical backing to not distract the message by overly driven solos or pumping beats. The outcome is a track that even feels a bit retro-flavored, but only because the sound contains universal wisdom that is reflected through the music as well as the lyrics.
Some of you might appreciate a good Whiskey. I know I do. And if I had to compare the next tune in line “The King Is Dead” to something outside of music, it would be a well-aged pricey whiskey. With a retro mix and slight distortions, the track creates a unique texture that takes a bit of time to adapt but feels lush, relaxed, and just “cool”. I found myself slightly head-nodding to this awesome beaten-down vibe in no time. As you might have guessed, this is another of my favorites on the album. “Mellow Drama” has an unexpected clean approach in comparison, using a youthful bass line along bright drum patterns to create a certain… let’s call it “let’s go vibe” to make the sound feel like handling everyday problems in human interaction, but not accusing or anything, but with an almost smiling “let’s just go on with what we have, shall we?” attitude.
As we slowly reach the end of the album, “Empty Closets” once again opens the retro drawer of the band’s arsenal. I love that the guys are able to create special feelings or vibes through the intelligent usage of different instruments or vocal concepts. Because they do so, the sound often gets a sophisticated aura present with an innocent smile, so to speak. And with this tune, it’s the same. Closing the album is “Johnny Was a Driver”, which feels like one last stop of time travel. For me personally, although following the general creativity of their music, this track feels more like a distant relative than like a brother of the other tunes. I think this is caused mainly by a certain (let’s call it) “cover-feel” that’s present in the tune. (I seriously checked if this had been created by someone else.) But in the end, this retro-soaked steady rocker is a solid last chapter of the musical journey called “Destiny Road”, and it just proves one more time that there’s not really a limit to the wide range of musical styles in the works of Dranow and his band.
You gotta love the versatility of the tracks available on this album. It’s feelable that these tracks were created being influenced by several of the old legends – Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Joe Bonamassa to name a few. Guided by the visions of these big ones, Dranow and the boys created a new hybrid of sound for themselves and added their wisdom and honesty. The outcome is what I’d like to call “wise blues rock”. There’s more to their music than just the notes and the groove. There’s this important thing called “life” to find in all these tunes.
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