Today's installment of Album A Day takes a trip to the underground with Texas space rock (their words, not mine) band The Boxing Lesson. I've received emails from The Boxing Lesson a couple times now, but as life goes, I'm only really giving a hard listen to and blogging about them now.
The biggest problem with the entire psychedlic/progressive rock genre is that its almost too broad. In its attempts to reach out and touch the farthest reaches of the universe, I always feel like I get left behind. Even the best in the genre (Rush, Pink Floyd) have a hard time keeping my attention from time to time. The Boxing Lesson have the same problem on their fourth release Wild Streaks and Windy Days, but its certainly not for their lack of trying. Tracks like "Freedom" and "Hopscotch and Sodapop" are wonderful, talent-laden rock songs that sound like they could've come straight out of the '70s. Even some of the longer, spacier songs like "Lower" have the allure to keep you involved more than usual. But once the lyrics are out and the token jam session gets going, The Boxing Lesson become a challenge to listen to again. Still, even for an underground band in a subgenre that has never impressed me, The Boxing Lesson show a remarkable amount of talent, and an equal or greater potential to bring something meaningful to the table. I can't in good faith slam or dismiss Wild Streaks and Windy Days since its not an outright bad album. I'm sure a number of my readers are seeing the description for the band and clamoring to hear it, and more power to them. The Boxing Lesson caught my attention for a little bit this time, and in the not too distant future I see them making another appearance on VLM.
==TJ==
