(2.5 Out of 5)

Okay, okay, okay.  I admit I am not a country fan.  I think that the only country songs I really do like are by Shania Twain, and that may be as much because she’s hot as because of the songs.  That and that her song “No One Needs to Know” was also in Twister… which was a fantastic movie, and yet I digress.

Here is the point.  The first paragraph about my review of this band, The Villains, was about someone else.  And the reason why is because they did absolutely nothing to distinguish themselves from any other mesh of soft rock and country that has come out since… well since those two things were meshed together; I’m going to guess that was 1994.  But I could be wrong, and probably am.

It isn’t that this is a bad band, because they are not.  They are good singers, they play their instruments well, and one of the pictures in their CD shows a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon on the mixing board.  It’s also the main picture on their website (www.thevillainsband.com).  Those are all good things… especially the PBR part.

These guys could easily be a tertiary band at Summerfest.  They could play the Milwaukee Fair like Bobby Fris does, and I could see them drawing a big crowd.  If I was in New Orleans and heard them at Fat Cats, I would go in and listen.  But I’m afraid that may be their niche.  I wouldn’t listen to them otherwise.  Did they put me in a country mood?  Kind of.  But I’m going to go get my country fix from Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton now, because this CD definitely didn’t do it.

By: Paul Hammond - Senior Editor