Frank Migliorelli And The Dirt Nappers – Abnormal Conditions

Frank Migliorelli And The Dirt Nappers – Abnormal Conditions – Album Review

Crazy.  It was like, what, nearly five years in between when I reviewed the Frank Migliorelli And The Dirt Nappers album called We’re Not Kiddin’ Around in 2021 and when I reviewed the lead single “Michigan” from this shiny new album here, yet when I go to save the file for this new review here it tells me I still have the last one sittin’ on my desktop waiting to be filed away.  I gotta clean this place up.  I suppose that story could have waited for another time, but would you looky here, this review now has itself an intro!  You’re welcome.

Dig the opening of Abnormal Conditions!  “Take The Wheel” is full of radiant sound that immediately pops right outta your speakers, and I’m here for it.  With that old-school organ providing the color, the band practically can’t help but stand out as their opener kicks into gear.  It’s like the B-52s meet the themes of BTO in a crossover that’s been about fifty years in the making, but here we are at long last – we’ve arrived.  Truthfully, the fundamentals of “Take The Wheel” arguably trace back even further than either of those bands…not quite to the “Under The Sea Dance,” but you know, pretty close to that era with “The Twist” and such.  In any event, I dig the energy, I dig the fun that “Take The Wheel” creates, and heck yeah, if I was watching them play a show live from the stage, you can bet I’d wanna see this song start the concert.  Whether you’re listening to this band recorded or seeing them live, “Take The Wheel” has got the kind of juice you wanna hear, and sets the standard high for the rest to follow it.

Armed with a plethora of dusty references, like “Year Of Living Dangerously” as a title reference to go along with their throwback sound, it doesn’t take long to get the sense that Frank Migliorelli And The Dirt Nappers aren’t here to recreate the wheel so much as have themselves a damn good time making the kind of music they personally love to hear and want to share with YOU.  No harm in a mission like that, especially when you consider how well this band jams out together.  I have had my moments here and there with “Year Of Living Dangerously” and its verses as I listened over this past week or so…I mean, no disrespect, but the design, flow, and melody is likely going to be a little on the obvious side for many of us listening.  That being said, familiarity can be a solid asset in the art of making music, and while what you might here on “Year Of Living Dangerously” can seem like it’s almost too much of a match, I’m sure you could just as easily cite what you’re listening to as smart, logical songwriting as well.  From my perspective, I like the additional drama that this track has, the clever pace in which it moves, and I felt like the vocals really came out engaging from the lead to the background on this second track.  Plus like, c’mon now…you can hear what I’m hearing around the 2:30-2:40 mark – that’s freakin’ badass!

“She’s Been Waiting Forever” sounds like the gem that it is right from the get go, and it just continues to get even better with the angelic voice of featured singer Tania Elizabeth stepping up the microphone to lend good ol’ Frank some assistance.  They make for a quality pairing, no doubt about that.  I like the level of sweetness to be found here…I like the way that “She’s Been Waiting Forever” sparkles & shines as it plays on…it’s got that downhome tone to it that’s like one of the more folksy turns from a band like Soul Asylum.  Authentic, you know?  Effortless for lack of a better word.  I generally hate using that term because of course there’s effort involved – but Frank Migliorelli And The Dirt Nappers & Tania make it seem like this moment simply unfolded right there in the room as they recorded it.  Natural.  Organic.  These are better words to describe this tune I suppose.  I’m sure you get the idea, but in the odd event that you don’t, I’m confident that listening to the song will reveal the mystery of what I’m sayin’ to ya.  “She’s Been Waiting Forever” is a genuine charmer with an audible magic to it that you couldn’t miss.

In context, after having a listen to the whole album, did “Michigan” make sense as the lead single and gateway into Abnormal Conditions?  Yup!  More often than not, I usually find myself disagreeing with the artists and bands over which cut would have been right for that particular role, but “Michigan” is an undeniably single-worthy tune that deserves the extra time in the spotlight.  Having said that, I am also well aware that an album like this is also fairly spoiled for choice when it comes to what could be a single – honestly, every one of the first three tracks could have been a justifiable pick too, albeit for altogether different reasons.  I think they got it right though – “Michigan” creates a remarkable first impression, highlights the exceptional musicianship AND the quality of their talents combined.  It also has a stunning melody and solid hook at the core of it all to go with it…you’ll find no complaints from me about this tune, I was happy to revisit it on the album – find my original thoughts on “Michigan” by clicking here.

This is new old music, by design – and a whole lot of people out there are gonna be quite thankful for that.  In a world that moves on from one thing to the next in a complete blur at this point in our history, spending a few minutes longer with a sound that you remember, connect with, or just straight up love is a kind of unique blessing of its own these days.  Whether it was artists like Mellencamp or Petty that you used to listen to on your turntables, or bands like Bad Finger and Dire Straits on cassette…you’ll find that the line from them all leads directly to the existence of a band like Frank Migliorelli And The Dirtnappers today.  We all come from somewhere.  I’m sure they have a more accurate list of their own influences, but you get the point all the same – songs like “Ever Since You Went Away” might not be what you’ll find on the stations of modern day radio or the next video auto-played for your algorithm at YouTube, but to be completely fair to the band, they’re rockin’ (gently!) with a timeless sound and style.  With their friend Marshall Crenshaw featured on “Ever Since You Went Away,” they’ve put together one of my own favorite tunes from this record.  The melody floats along like it’s been recorded on a cushion of cloud, and yet like every other song you’ll find on Abnormal Conditions, it’s played with highly audible purpose.

Of course, we’re all gonna have our own individual favorites, and we’re all likely going to find a song or two on any record that doesn’t quite resonate as strongly with us.  Do I personally need “Fire Road?”  Not really, no…but I’m not opposed to its inclusion either really when it comes right down to it.  The reason as to why I’m willing to accept it, even though it’s a little more like…on the Bon Jovi/Bruce Springsteen side of sound than many of the rest…simply comes down to the execution – Frank Migliorelli And The Dirt Nappers play their songs with commitment, and that ultimately gives every moment along the way the opportunity to be heard.  Writing-wise, “Fire Road” is a bit of a mixed result, at least in my opinion.  It’s part anthem, part recycled Rock…and then like…this strange sprinkling of social awareness that I so desperately want to give a thumbs up to, but feels much more like an afterthought in terms of how it’s included here.  I think that, to say the lyrics of “Fire Road” are directly about any one thing would be a serious stretch…and yet, having the fascism speech from Tom Morello show up in the mix here felt like the band was trying to point your attention of something that’s more important than what the rest of the song presents to you.  Again, that could merely be my interpretation – if you get an anti-fascist message from the rest of this song outside its Spoken Word sample, believe me, I’m all for it, even if I felt like it was much tougher to identify real meaning outside of that moment.

Execution matters.  Sure, I might not have been as jazzed about “Fire Road,” but maybe you are!  Maybe I’m over here listening to “The Rain Will Always Fall On This Side Of Town,” thinking it’s one of the best tracks on the album, and maybe you don’t!  The world keeps on turnin’ regardless, I assure you.  After realizing the Springsteen-esque qualities in the way Frank writes his lyrics, I can see that show up in so many of the others, even when the sound of a song is as far away from Bruce’s vibe as “The Rain Will Always Fall On This Side Of Town” – the similarities still exist, and in all the right ways.  The vivid imagery and the insightful sincerity of his words make it a justified comparison, regardless of the differences in sound.  A track like “The Rain Will Always Fall On This Side Of Town” possesses a spectacularly special melody if you ask me, and I suppose someone must have, so yep, that’s how I feel about it.  I think there’s a whole lot of commendable music and moments to be found throughout Abnormal Conditions, but if I had to choose just one song that really spoke to me on a whole different level, it’d be this one.

“She’ll Wait To Hear The Heartbeat” is another one of those songs you hear that like, part of you feels like you SHOULD be able to resist in some kind of way, yet the battle is likely a hell of a lot more futile than you’ll realize if you try.  I dunno…I get it – I get why Frank and his musical cohorts are still in love with a sound like this, because so much of it is well intentioned, sweet, and makes melody the most prevalent priority – who would dare complain about a combination like that?  It draws on an era that’s in our past by quite some years at this point in time, but it’s also because of that, that it conjures up this extremely welcome, nostalgic vibe that most of us are bound to connect to in some way, shape or form.  It’s funny…like…I don’t know if Frank would be considered to be a natural choice as a lead singer when it comes right down to it, but man, the dude has proven time & again he belongs up front in the spotlight.  He puts in another one of my favorite performances for his vocals on “She’ll Wait To Hear The Heartbeat,” and fearlessly leans as hard as one possibly can into the delicate nature of the melody at its core.  As a result, everything you’ll hear is insanely pleasant…you’d have to be a world class A-hole to try and make an argument against a song like this, and even though I’ve certainly been described that way more than a few times throughout my career as a music critic, I’m no less immune to the sweetness you’ll find on “She’ll Wait To Hear The Heartbeat” than you are.  It’d be way too hard to resist this song.

Man, I even love the TITLE of “This Whiskey Won’t Burn” – how cool of a statement is that?  It’s one of those interpretive labels that like, tells you everything, even if it’s all based in projection and the way we internalize the meaning of a song as we listen to it.  For myself personally, this is the real finale to Abnormal Conditions…there’s another song still to come, but we’ll get to that and you’ll understand why I feel the way I feel.  “This Whiskey Won’t Burn” feels like last call…a genuine conclusion that can’t be missed, where at the end, the lights of your house will naturally come back on and light the path down the hall so you can hit the bed and call it a day.  It’s a real highlight for the man’s songwriting – and when you combine that with the subtle way that his band plays this tune, it really does make for the perfect ending and I’m pretty much ready to fight anyone out there that would dare to say otherwise.  “This up and down love is just like rodeo ridin’ on a bull with a burr in its saddle and a mad cow grudge” is gonna be recognized as one of the best lines I’ve heard in any song this year, that much I can tell ya.  Piano led, slow, and wonderfully bittersweet – “This Whiskey Won’t Burn” is a truly magnificent song.

So…I suppose the question is, does a second helping of “Fire Road” make sense to ya afterwards?  I can tell you that it didn’t to me, “Radio Safe Edit” or not.  As I’ve explained to y’all many times on these pages of ours – you run a massive risk of burning out a great tune when you include it a second time in the course of one record…I mean, the math is simple – you’re hearing it 2:1 compared to everything else, and that can wear anything out faster than many listeners, bands, or artists involved can realize.  Obviously in a case like this, where the song in question isn’t even one of my own personal favorites from the set…well…you can understand the implications – now I’ve gotta hear it twice as much when all I want is to hear tracks written with stronger emotional content and conviction like “The Rain Will Always Fall On This Side Of Town,” or “She’s Been Waiting Forever,” or “This Whiskey Won’t Burn” instead.  Secondly, it’s kind of like a chef telling you how to eat the damn food you ordered…having a song included twice is like a neon flashing sign that says THIS!  THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE HIT!  PAY DIRECT ATTENTION TO THIS ONE SONG TWICE AS MUCH AS ALL THE OTHERS!  ALL HAIL THE SONG THAT APPEARS TWICE!  Respectfully, I decline.  Maybe that’s the rebellious part of me or the adult inclinations of a guy that grew up in the Grunge era, I do not know…maybe that’s me being the world-class A-hole I told you I was earlier on…but dammit, I decide what I wanna hear again and again in the music I’m listening to, and damn the torpedoes, no artist or band under the sun will ever get to dictate that no matter how hard they try to steer the situation.  All in all though…don’t get it twisted – “Fire Road” still has merit, I still think it’s a decent tune even if it’s not my own personal favorite in the set.  I stand by what I said though…you’ll always run the risk of burning out what YOU think is the best song (or what you think should be the hit) on an album when you include it twice in one lineup…so like…don’t do that.  Other than that one unforced error, Frank Migliorelli And The Dirt Nappers has a mighty fine album here that they should be entirely proud of – Abnormal Conditions has a lot of heart, great songwriting, and dedicated musicianship to be found at every turn.  You get the sense they achieved exactly what they set out to create with each of these songs through the level of purpose & intention that they come with.

Find out more about Frank Migliorelli And The Dirt Nappers from the official website at:  https://www.dirtnappers.com

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