Abundance

If you're a fan of Zip Code Rapists and are working your way through their past albums, beware: this is not quite the same band. They may have similar names, but the two are musically worlds apart. Although the band contains several John Singer/Gregg Turkington compositions (the duo would later become the creative nucleus of the Zip Code Rapists), Zip Code Revue's songs are often laid-back classic rock with a country flavor. Bruce Kaphan's pedal steel really brings out the down-home feel in the tracks "Doctors Are Spreading Disease" and "Begging Song." "If You Had My Eyes" sounds like a more challenging (and less commercial) Wallflowers track, which contains some breezy organ. Not all of the Zip Code Revue's songs are laidback, however. "Wired" is a reckless and gritty hard rocker, as is the band's mammoth cover of the Led Zeppelin standard "When the Levee Breaks" (included on the CD as a bonus track). And like the mighty Zep, the Revue breaks things up with a mellow folk number here and there ("Let's Go Fast"). After a few listens, it becomes apparent that Abundance was a sadly overlooked debut. Fans of classic rock sounds, take note.