We All Belong

Blue-eyed soul. Indie Rock. Jazzy pop. All of these could be used to describe WE ALL BELONG, the second album from Dr. Dog. I won't bore you with the usual MPR Podcast rant (though that's how I found them, their single "Die, Die, Die" was a free download about two weeks ago). Instead, let me tell you about what a band can do with modest means. Using a simple twenty-four-track, Dr. Dog has crafted a fuzzy, rock masterpiece.

If I could only play you one Dr. Dog song, one that would sum them up...I'd pick "Alaska." The fifth track, "Alaska" doesn't hit you until you're nearly halfway into WE ALL BELONG. It's part of a trilogy of backwoods-y songs ("Weekend" and "The Lazy Way We Do" being the other two parts). All the elements that make up what Dr. Dog are can be found in this track: moaning organ, ragged-soul lead vocals coupled with honey sweet backing vocals, thoughtful (and sad) lyrics. Brilliant.

WE ALL BELONG has a strange jigsaw feel to it, sort of like THE WHITE ALBUM. There are quiet tracks ("Alaska" and "Weekend") and groovy roller coasters ("Old News" and "The Girl")...then there are awesome 60's/rock psychedelic tunes. "We All Belong" and "My Old Ways" are epic, complex bits of sunshine that would make Brian Wilson cry with envy. And just when you think you've gotten a proper handle on them, Dr. Dog slip something like the before mentioned "Die, Die, Die." It's a whole different kettle of fish. Sweeping aside all the happy-good feelin' rock, the band churns out this amazing blues track...with all this brilliant imagery (my favorite line "and like a marionette doll/oh manned by a fool/I went into the chicken shed/staring lookin' for tools" Brilliant.

The band's greatness comes from their varied influences. I hear strains of The Beach Boys, Chicago, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Dobbie Brothers, The Rolling Stones, and The Beatles. All this shit mixed together into something old, something new. The "classic" recording approach coupled with this mixture of sounds gives WE ALL BELONG a strange, 'out of time' quality. This record could have been made 15 or 20 years ago.

As far was weak tracks go, I can't find any. As far as singles go, I think "Die, Die, Die" and "Ain't It Strange" are pretty representative of this band's greatness. That said, there are about four other tracks that could easily be played on (a really cool) radio station. I saw them live at that in-store and they sounded nearly as good as they do on the album. This is the benefit of not using Pro-Tools to clean yourself up. I saw them on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and they did an awesome version of "Worst Trip." So besides making great albums Dr. Dog is a fantastic live band. Truly Dr. Dog is a band to keep an eye on.

I can't recommend this one enough.

Jason gives WE ALL BELONG an A++ (and wonders why you don't have it).

Also, as a weird side note: There's a fun game you can play with this record...as you listen, try to keep track of the number of dog references. These boys like dogs...