Reviews

By Bliss
I SEE HAWKS IN LA, Shoulda Been Gold: 2001-2009 (American Beat/Collector’s Choice):
(4 stars out of 5)

“The Hawks abide,” as LA’s critically hailed cosmic rockers affirm in amusing liner notes for this collection of 17 tunes that deserve wider recognition. Previously issued fan faves like their politically irreverent, psychedelic eco-enviro anthem “Humboldt,” “Byrd From West Virginia” and “Raised By Hippies” are paired with five new tracks, including “Mystery of Life,” recorded in concert at Pasadena’s Neighborhood Church. Both a primer and celebration of a band often cited as one of LA’s best. At McCabe’s in Santa Monica Sunday. iseehawks.com.

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When is a greatest hits album not a greatest hit album? A good indication is when a third of its set list is spiced with songs that are either new or have never been released. But the best sign that the collection you’re spinning isn’t a greatest hits package is when there aren’t any hits. And in the case of I See Hawks in L.A., it’s almost unfathomable that the SoCal quartet (with a boatload of talented friends guesting) is in that very position with their new career overview, Shoulda Been Gold.

Formed just over a decade ago by relocated Minnesotan Rob Waller and former Polka shuffler Paul Lacques, the Hawks were an immediate local sensation, combining the Country/Rock style points of The Byrds, the peyote-hazed Honky Tonk of the Flying Burrito Brothers and the trailblazing Country/Pop hybridization of Michael Nesmith along with a twisted sense of humor and laser guided lyrics of social and political import.

I See Hawks in L.A. have released four albums to date — their eponymous 2001 debut, 2004’s Grapevine, 2006’s California Country and 2008’s Hallowed Ground — and each successive disc has found the Hawks inching ever closer to a perfect blending of Country, Pop and Rock, a mutation that features elements of all three genres but is rarely any one of them completely.

If you’ve never heard the Hawks, Shoulda Been Gold is a great sampler. There are excellent selections from their last three albums (including the scorching “Texarkanada,” the brilliantly bouncy “Raised by Hippies” and the gently scathing “Midnight in Orlando”), a trio of terrific tunes recorded specifically for this album (including the title track, “Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulet” and a cover of David Allen Coe’s “Bossier City,” the latter two with guest vocalist Carla Olson), a couple of archive cuts from the Grapevine sessions, the unreleased 2000 demo of the song from their debut album that gave the band their name and a live version of “The Mystery of Life.”

If this is where you’re beginning your Hawks education, Shoulda Been Gold will inspire you to fill in the gaps by seeking out the albums that comprise the collection. And if you‘re already enlightened to the Hawks’ Cali cowboy gumbo, congratulations on your great taste — but you’ll still want Shoulda Been Gold for its unheard treasures.

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By William Michael Smith in Lonesome Onry and Mean
Tue., Jan. 26 2010 @ 1:30PM

I See Hawks in L.A. are perennial roots-rock favorites in Southern California. Their Shoulda Been Gold 2001-2009 compilation on new Collector’s Choice Americana imprint American Beat Records drops today and covers some of their most well known work like “Humboldt,” one of the best odes to the sweet leaf ever written. Five of the 17 tracks are from 2004’s hard-to-find Grapevine, the album that put the Hawks firmly on the alt-country map.

Shoulda Been Gold contains new material as good as anything the Hawks have ever done. The band has been playing “Sexy Vacation” for years, and this one just builds and builds with that rare-air psychedelic country power that has always been a Hawks trademark. “Shoulda Been Gold” was written specifically for the album, and it has the Hawks’ trademark end-is-near late-night feel.

Another fresh track, and a true highlight, is a cover of David Allan Coe’s minor classic “Bossier City,” which features a soulful duet with former Austinite Carla Olson (Textones). This one has been in regular rotation in Lonesome Onry and Mean’s truck the past month, which is always our supreme test.

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By Mike Berick on January 26th, 2010
Three Stars. The popular Los Angeles band I See Hawks has released four CDs to critical praise but received little recognition at large; however, this self-described “greatest non-hits” collection should improve on their current cult status.

This expansive 17-song set of album tracks, unreleased material and new tunes showcases I See Hawk’s harmony-rich, sun-baked sound, which evokes the laidback ‘70s SoCal country-rock of Poco, latter-day Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers. The road-trippy “Texarkanda” embodies the Burritos’ comic Americana vibe, while they transform David Allen Coe’s “Bossier City,” a new duet with Carla Olson, into a Parsons/Harris ballad.

Behind Rob Waller’s easy-going California twang, Paul Lacques’ nimble guitar picking and a trunk-load of pedal steels, mandolins and fiddles, ISHILA takes listeners on an Americana travelogue, from their home state (“Grapevine,” “Wonder Valley Fight Song” and “Humboldt”) and across America (“Laissez Les Bon Temp Roulet,” “Hope Against Hope,” and “Midnight In Orlando”). The band’s interest in U.S. history and politics, meanwhile, surfaces in selections like “Raised By Hippies” and “Byrd From West Virginia,” an ode to the longtime Virginia senator.

This disc might not uncover “shoulda been gold” tunes but it does hold enough nuggets to make this an excellent primer for a band worthy of more attention.

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by j. poet

I See Hawks in LA
Shoulda Been Gold
(American Beat, 2010)

It’s hard to write about California country without mentioning Gram Parsons, so let’s get that out of the way early on. I See Hawks in LA probably wouldn’t exist if Parsons didn’t open up the minds of hippies and rockers to the joys of traditional country music. That being said, their sound owes little to Parsons’ brand of cosmic country. I See Hawks can play hardcore honky tonk with the best of them, but that’s only part of their appeal. Their hard-to-pigeonhole sound also has a firm grasp on folk, blues, psychedelia, Cajun, bluegrass, and other strains of roots/Americana, but what really sets them apart is their politically astute, left-leaning, eco-friendly lyrics, and humor.

The Hawks have released four albums on small indie labels. Many of them are hard to find as the new decade dawns, so this “greatest hits” collection on Collector’s Choice’s new Americana subdivision makes good sense. It collects 10 tracks cut between 2000 and 2009—including half of the tunes from 2004’s Grapevine, maybe their most potent release—and seven songs that see the light of day for the first time here. Three of them were recorded specially for this CD, including “Bossier City” and “Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulet”—both feature harmony vocals from Carla Olson, former Textone leader and a gal who knows her country.

Rob Waller sings lead and plays acoustic rhythm guitar. Paul Lacques shreds on all kinds of guitars in any style you want to mention. He also sings and plays Dobro and lap steel. Paul Marshall plays bass and adds the third voice to the harmonies, and Shawn Nourse is the drummer. The Hawks are a cohesive quartet, but it’s Lacques on guitar and Waller’s singing that make them a force to be reckoned with. Waller is a great vocalist and easily brings the band’s two main influences together in his singing. “Soul Power”, a previously unreleased rocker, shows off Waller’s gritty side. It’s a straightforward blues-rock tune with a relentless rhythm and Allman Brothers-style guitar harmonies supplied by guest picker Marcus Watkins. Waller delivers the sexual lyrics—“We’ve got the power of nature underneath our clothes”—with a perfect balance of swagger and sincerity. “Bossier City”, a goodbye to a faithless lover, likens the end of a relationship to the end of summer, with a chilly pedal steel solo and Olson’s harmonies adding to the forlorn aura. “Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulet” is the other side of the coin, a celebration of a lasting relationship, with Olson turning up the heat on her vocal part. The fractured French of the chorus and the added fiddle and accordion give the number a vaguely Cajun feel. The portrait of lovers growing old together is presented without the cloying sentimentality that often mars songs of this type.

“Sexy Vacation” is a more straightforward, Cajun-flavored two-step, another song about a failed relationship with great harmonies, a lively solo from Lacques, and sharp, snarky lyrics like, “The road to hell is paved with heavenly delights.” “Shoulda Been Gold” is a sunshine-drenched California country tune that suggests the Beach Boys, although it sounds very little like them. The poignant harmonies and pedal steel paint a melancholy picture of broken hearts still dreaming of the good times. The demo of “I See Hawks in LA” is from the band’s first recording session in 2000. It’s a lonesome country blues song with a lap steel solo as empty as a midnight sky. “Mystery of Fife” is a secular spiritual that was cut live in 2004. There’s bare-bones guitar and fiddle on the track, but it’s the three-part gospel harmonies that make this one a keeper.

The 10 oldies here were all hits to Hawks fans, and hopefully this release will get them some much-deserved recognition. The ecological lament “Hope Against Hope” is a countrified folk song and promises to keep fighting for the preservation of the planet; a weary lap steel adds touching accents to Waller’s distressed vocal. “Byrd from West Virginia” is a folk ballad about Robert Byrd, the conservative senator from West Virginia who was in the KKK as a young man, but wound up opposed to the Iraq War and voted for health care reform as a tribute to his friend Ed Kennedy. It’s a complex tune and a reminder that liberals don’t have a monopoly on integrity.

“Humboldt” is a moody psychedelic rocker, and a salute to the pot growers of Northern California. “Raised by Hippies” is a bouncy, country-rock tune about unrepentant hippies, and “Wonder Valley Fight Song” is a funky rocker full of dystopian visions of small town living. The Hawks show off their bluegrass chops on “The Salesman”, which features the banjo of pal Cody Byrant. The salesman of the title could be Jesus or the devil, trying to sell the capitalist dream to people already lulled into a coma by over-consumption, while “Grapevine Texarkanada” is a quiet mid-tempo ballad that takes its name from a notorious stretch of road in California known for multi-car pile ups brought about by heavy fog. Beautiful harmonies and Lacques’ subtle, twang-heavy lead give it a dreamy, laid-back feel.

The band’s literate-leaning lyrics may have some thinking that they are a bit too pretentious to be a real country band. But storytelling has always been part of the cowboy tradition, and California has always been friendly to mavericks, from the twang of Buck and Merle’s Bakersfield to the shredding cowpunk of Tex and the Horseheads. With their glistening harmonies, sharp songwriting, and a cosmic outlook that stays rooted in the tumbleweeds and Joshua trees, I See Hawks in LA fits right into the Golden State’s noble country lineage.

Listen: Various Tracks [at myspace.com]

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A decade after their formation on a front porch in a neighbouring LA suburb, and country-rock outfit I See Hawks in L.A. take a moment to reflect on their achievements, and err…. the public’s failure to recognise a hit song when they hear one.

Wryly titled, Shoulda Been Gold is a retrospective of sorts, taking the ‘non-hits’ from each of their four albums and packaging them with a few rarities and new recordings.

Rooted in sixties/seventies country-rock (Flying Burrito Brothers, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Buffalo Springfield, etc…) with touches of psychedelia, ISHILA are a few decades late to the party. Such fashionable lateness may explain their inability to produce a hit, however it’s this refusal to modernize their sound that is likely to resonate with alt.twangers the world over, many of whom long for days gone by. Such critical success – though not paying the bills – ought to make up for any commercial failures.

Throughout their ten-year history, ISHILA have set themselves apart from the crowd with their penchant for observational humour (‘Raised by Hippies’, ‘Texarkanada’, ‘The Salesman’), drawing comparisons to Wagons, while the political and social commentary of ‘Byrd from West Virginia’ and ‘Highway Down’ highlights their serious side.

For the novice, it is barely possible to distinguish between the older tracks and the new, such is the consistency of ISHILA. For the entrenched fan however, new tunes such as the title track and opener ‘Sexy Vacation’ ought to keep you going until the next album-proper.

Raise a glass!

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“Shoulda Been Gold 2001-2009″

I See Hawks In L.A.

American Beat Records 4 stars

Not merely the ironic best-of collection its title implies, this latest from our town’s most authentic, underappreciated country rock band features, along with selected non-hits, new songs, never-before-released cuts (including a beautiful lost love ballad called, well, “Shoulda Been Gold”) and a live version of the song named after the band. Or was the band named after the song? Whatever – there’s something wonderfully lost and confused about these cosmic cowboys that nicely matches their scruffy charm and balances their tight harmonies and forward-driving rhythm. Post-millennial Eagles with a nice strain of Byrds-like psychedelia and a good sense of humor (“I’d burn your pictures but you know you’re just too pretty,” Rob Waller gripes on “Sexy Vacation”), the Hawks commence a passel of area shows tonight at McCabe’s in Santa Monica.

– Bob Strauss Staff Writer

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Imagine if Graham Parsons had hooked up with Grace Slick instead of Emmylou, and one of their offspring had moved out to Joshua Tree for a decade or so, then formed a band with a couple of his friends. The real story of how I See Hawks In L.A. came into being is less, well, legendary. But that picture paints a good story about what an ISHILA record is going to sound like, so I’m sticking to it. If that image doesn’t do it for you, think lots of pedal steel and twang and 70’s era country rock sounds.

Shoulda Been Gold is the fifth Hawks album. The title is a reference to it being an album of their greatest hits, which, if you subscribe to the Nashville or Variety way of counting, they don’t have. Gotta love the sarcasm. If you’re a long time fan, or just new to the Hawks, though, this is a good sample of some of their best work, with some new tunes thrown in for good measure.

Take for example I See Hawks In L.A., the eponymous track about being a free spirit in a town built on beauty and a perceived ideal. Similarly The Salesman explores selling hope in the guise of con men and televangelism.

As you can imagine, the Hawks can be master story-tellers, accomplishing political commentary with a tale about a place or time and how it affects someone. One of my favorites is Humboldt, the northern California county where “I’d be glad to plant corn in the ground, but corn don’t go for three-thousand a pound.” They also included Raised By Hippies, which is about exactly what you think it’s about.

Depending on how you count, there are 5-6 new songs on this greatest hits collection. Sexy Vacation is the one I’d tag as being the closest to a classic ISHILA tune. But the one I like better is the live version of Mystery of Life. It’s an a cappella, old-timey version where the boys harmonize it’s “each man’s destiny to face the mystery of life…alone.” And so it is.

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SHOULDA BEEN GOLD, 2001-2009-(AMERICAN BEAT)- Can’t claim to have ever heard of this bunch but from the sound and looks of it maybe they were Southern California’s answer to the Flatlanders? Just a guess there ..anywho, it seems they appeared on the scene in L.A. at the dawn of the 2000’s (during, as they say, “mellow’s last gasp”) armed with a batch of terrific songs and a political agenda hidden in the lyrics (ok, maybe not so hidden). Vocalist/acoustic guitarist Rob Waller and guitarist Paul Lacques decided that , after 4 records, they needed to release a great hits records only none of their songs were ever hits (at least not in the traditional sense) and it’s a good thing too as their other 4 records probably aren’t the easiest things to find. American Beat Records stepped up and on this 17 track collection you have 5 previously unreleased songs and the record includes the very Flying Burritos-esque opener, “Sexy Vacation” (not sure why this gem was previously unreleased) , the gorgeous, haunting title track, the pedal-steel-soaked “Humboldt”, the gentle, rolling acoustic “Byrd from West Virginia” and that’s just the first 4 tunes. They probably could have cut 5 or so of the tunes and made a real killer 12 song record, but really, I’m being picky here. SHOULDA BEEN GOLD is a marvelous record full of intelligent and well-written songs and if you’ve worn out your copy of SWEETHEART OF THE RODEO and need something new then this is a perfect choice.www.ccmusic.com