Rock Stock & Barrel is Angelica's 3rd album, and one of the 1st tapes I ever purchased with my own money. I was initially disappointed with this release for some reason. I had listened to it at a friend's house & enjoyed it, but when I brought it home, I thought the guitar tone was weak as compared to other similar bands. I also thought the production was too slick (my biggest issue w/ Walkin' In Faith some years later). I only listened to it a couple times, then shelved it.
Fast forward 1 year later & I listened to it again. What was I thinking! This album, while a bit too slick for its own good, is awesome! As far as I'm concerned, this has better, more varied songwriting than Walkin' In Faith (something that brought that album down a notch), and has a more interesting vocalist in Drew Bacca. Not only does Drew have the pipes to support these tunes, but he has a lot more personality & inflection in his delivery than Jerome Mazza ever did, which gives these tracks more personality in turn.
Because this was an early purchase for me & I STILL have it on cassette (as well as CD), this holds a special place in my heart as an early favorite. I still go back to this one as frequently as the debut, even if it doesn't have the teeth the debut has. Still, this is a great album. My favorite tracks include "The Fire Inside", "Cover Me" with it's acoustic intro & bluesy swagger, "Home Sweet Heaven" with it's interesting riff, "Keep Pushin' On" with it's high-energy, and "Rhyme and Reason" with it's awesome groove. Of course, no Angelica album would be complete without Dennis Cameron getting a chance to shred a bit, & we get that in "Bumble Boob Groove", a guitar interpretation of the classical piece"Flight of the Bumblebee", as well as an instrumental version of "Oh, Canada", since Dennis & co. are from Canada.
8.5/10
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