photo by Wyatt Ell; photo courtesy of Blind Raccoon

Album Review of Jennifer Lyn & the Groove Revival: Retrograde

I’ve been following Jennifer Lyn & the Groove Revival for several years – heck, I have Jennifer Lyn’s 2016 single “I’m All Wrong for You Baby” and a couple songs from the band’s 2018 Badlands album on my #PhoneOnShuffle playlist – and am glad to finally have an opportunity to share this top-shelf blues-rock (or rockin’ blues) band’s music with you here at the blog. Indeed, the band’s style is so densely packed in the style of psychedelic ’70s blues-rock bands, it’ll appeal to classic rock fans, yet there are some pure blues elements that’ll also appeal to blues fans. Double whammy, if you will. Two fan-bases for the price of one. And dayum, this is some tasty tuneage.

image courtesy of Blind Raccoon

The album opens with the sidewinding, psychedelic classic rock vibe of “Light the Fire.” The song features plenty of classic guitar crunch but with lots of white space between the riffs, making room for Lyn’s powerful voice to soar as the song builds to power, relents, then builds again. Next, “Searching for Solid Ground” is organ-heavy and, while a natural progression from the disc-opener, is lighter and a bit more musically playful.

There’s almost a “Got No Shame” vibe in the opening of “Sucker for the Pain,” one of my favorite tracks on Retrograde. It’s followed by “Refuge,” a powerful, soulful, meaty, slow-tempoed song that’ll stick with you; it features kind of a church-organ vibe to the keys and has a nifty, noodly, bluesy classic guitar rock solo just past the halfway mark that’ll make your hair stand on end in spots.

“Do Bad Things to You” follows. It’s a raucously fun song with a Thorogood-esque, thumpin’ tempo supporting vocals that reach hard-rock-wail every time the song climaxes.

photo courtesy of Blind Raccoon

Then the album returns to smooth soulfulness with “Soul Saver,” a song with a bit of a pop-rock vibe, though more likely an album track on a ’70s/’80s guitar-driven, mid-tempo pop-rock disc, as it’s more of a nifty album-listening, organ-driven, jangly tune with kind of a travelin’ feel to it. It’s not exactly hooky pop-rock radio fare, which is OK because it’s not trying to be, but it’d be a favorite of many fans who bought the album.

“’59 Cadillac” is another fun romp, a mid-tempo funky blues rock number that proclaims “I don’t care if he’s coming back. I got his ’59 Cadillac.” Gotta respect that energy!

The bluesy guitar riff opening “Breaking Chains” has kind of a wide-open-spaces, old west vibe to it. The song’s energy is powerful yet light and uplifting, and there’s a neat little repeating guitar riff threaded throughout the song that helps hold it all together.

photo courtesy of Blind Raccoon

The album’s penultimate number, “Baggage,” is a lot rougher around the edges. It howls, wails, and squeals its message – blues-rockingly, of course – with an insistence that can’t be denied. I think we can all relate to this number, unfortunately, with lyrics like, “As much as I’ll miss your lovely face, your baggage won’t fit in my suitcase.” In the end, this is an energetic, commiserating number, one that rejoices in kicking the baggage to the curb.

The album closes with “Do It All Again,” a psychedelic, moderately-paced guitar rock number that’d fit in perfectly on a psychedelic ’70s rock LP. I half-expect the song to rattle and pop a bit like overplayed vinyl. But no, this is classic-influenced guitar rock in all its modern digital awesomeness.

If you like classic rock, blues rock, psychedelic rock, or guitar rock, this is likely to fall into your musical wheelhouse. Jennifer Lyn & the Groove Revival are a band you should be following, if you don’t already. Retrograde is a great beginning-to-end listen. My personal favorites on this album are “Sucker for the Pain,” “Do Bad Things to You,” “’59 Cadillac,” and “Baggage,” but there’s not a bad song in this collection, so your favorites are likely to differ.