If Welcome to Discovery Park had come out in 1975, people today might call it a classic. If it had come out in 1988, it might well have become an underground success, a throwback to the days before the synthetic soul of new wave. In 2002, it just seems like a logical extension of the current trend towards all things retro.
Not that Brad’s latest album is another throwback to classic guitar rock–far from it, in fact. If the Hives et al are a plea for the glory days of the Kinks and the Who, Discovery Park is a return to the slow-burning soul of Neil Young’s mellower moments. With a singer who sounds halfway between Young and John Fogerty, a guitar player straight out of Pearl Jam (literally) and enough brotherly love for two Lenny Kravitz albums, Brad may not be revolutionary, but they at least deserve a listen.