Songs We Wrote

Review by Darren Gawle

As the cliché goes, you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but...

Songs We Wrote, as a title, gives a good idea of the generally lackadaisical attitude towards recorded music which pervades most Canadian product. Why not call the band 'A Bunch of Guys from Burnaby' while we're at it? The best thing the Snuggs could have done was to sit back and really consider whether anyone outside their circle of friends would really have needed yet another local folk-rock band with a full-length CD competing for their attention.

Generally, the Snuggs fit into the realm of that Moxy Fruvous / Barenaked Ladies semi-acoustic sound -- soft enough not to offend your grandmother, but with full drum kit and amplified bass to give some semblance of being able to 'rock.' It's not bad music as such, but it is boring -- except of course for "David's Lament," which instead is excruciating and an a cappella joke which probably only the guys in the band 'get.'

The truth is the Snuggs should probably have waited until they really had a solid core of good material and (probably) a direction. As a band, they're not really all that tight, yet, either. Certainly their bass player could do with some more time to gel with the drummer (listen to the breakdown section of "People" for the best evidence of this); his playing is all over the beat, no matter how good a bass line he tries to come up with.

Finally, a Hidden Track Alert: track 11 is a half-minute snippet of Latino hand drumming with someone grunting in the background. Yariba!

Artist Contact Info: 6670 Eagles Dr., Burnaby, B.C., Canada, V5E 1W8, thesnuggs@geocities.com