Last Chance Soda

Editorial Reviews
About the Artist
THE OFFICIAL STORY OF KID SAMPSON (unofficial)

KID SAMPSON was formed by Mara and Jeremy in the middle of 1996 in the cozy town of Amherst, Massachusetts. Sensing something important happening, Mike quickly joined on to add his percussive gift. The band represents a race against time for its members to play original rock n' roll before they are robbed of their will to live. KID SAMPSON's sound has been described as "riveting," "revolutionary" and "life-giving," however, those quotes were taken directly from the band members themselves, and thus aren't necessarily accurate. Also, Mike is a robot.

KID SAMPSON has been known to play both bouncy, melodic, electric rock and stripped down acoustic music. Influenced by such artists as Elvis Costello, R.E.M., Dr. Seuss, the Kinks, Brad Pitt and Janet Jackson, they struggle to put together original, intricately crafted songs featuring lyrics which employ both sincerity and sarcasm to address serious issues and which sometimes rhyme.

The band has just released their second CD, entitled Last Chance Soda, which, according to advance reports, is better and more beautiful than anything ever created by humans. It should build on the success of their first CD, This is a Real Album, and two EP's, Pappy Was a Sailor and On the Surface.

Performers
Mike- drums, vocals, other Mara- bass, vocals, other Jeremy- guitar, vocals, other

Album Description
Perhaps the biggest step forward for humankind since lungs. The second Kid Sampson CD features 13.5 catchy, thoughfully-crafted rock and roll songs that take the best from the world of popular music and politely discard the rest in an environmentally sound manner. The result is a thickly layered sound with a barnfull of vocal harmonies and eclectic instrumentations. If you like the Beach Boys, Elvis Costello, or the Sweet Valley High books, then this album is for you!! If you don't like them, then this album is for you!!

Last Chance Soda

Tracks:

Beginning
Lullabye
Forever Baby
What About Your Friends
So Right
Do Me
Cornelius
Mainstream Band
Mr. Wonderful
World Out There
She Moves
Not Good Enough
The Truth
Dansk Ferie

Album Description

Perhaps the biggest step forward for humankind since lungs. The second Kid Sampson CD features 13.5 catchy, thoughfully-crafted rock and roll songs that take the best from the world of popular music and politely discard the rest in an environmentally sound manner. The result is a thickly layered sound with a barnfull of vocal harmonies and eclectic instrumentations. If you like the Beach Boys, Elvis Costello, or the Sweet Valley High books, then this album is for you!! If you don't like them, then this album is for you!!

Customer Reviews:

Adventurous and original.......2000-11-22

Kid Sampson's followup to This Is A Real Album shows them experimenting with a wide palette of textures and moods. Their consistently strong songwriting is showcased well by the album's lavish and imaginative production. The settings range from lush string and brass arrangements on songs like So Right all the way down to World Out There, backed only by acoustic guitar and melancholy french horn. The album has a nice overall shape to it; the simple piano instrumental that opens it recurs between songs and even out of context in the middle of one, before coming back in a dreamlike and dissonant way as the last song fades out.

But it's the songs themselves that merit the most praise; while they show a strong Elvis Costello influence, they are also highly idiosyncratic and original. Mainstream Band, one of my favorites, has a complicated and asymmetrical structure, frequent key changes and nonlinear stream-of-consciousness lyrics. Reading that description might make the song sound impenetrable or just pretentious, but it's actually infectiously catchy. That's the real strength of this band: while their lyrics are ambiguous and their music is full of unexpected twists, the songs consistently stay fun and approachable. The band can rock, as they do on the optimistic Lullabye or the more sardonic Not Good Enough, and they also have a way with introspective ballads - the aforementioned World Out There is the strongest of these, but there's also the heartbreaking Dansk Ferie. Give these guys a chance; I'm not much of a rock and roll guy but Kid Sampson lies just fine on my music-snob ears.

Great Songs from Great Band!.......2000-10-10