Sam Roberts
Sam Roberts
Chemical City
(Secret Brain/Fontana)
Perennial Juno Award nominee Sam Roberts, despite the exploits of fellow Candaian success stories, has been unable to crack the States.
Roberts, true to his plain name, writes blue collar rock on Chemical City as if his township will know no other. Sometimes he bastes it in Soundtrack Of Our Lives-style psychedelia (“The Gate,” “The Bootleg Saint”), on others he’s a poor(er?) man’s Springsteen in a power pop world (“An American Draft Dodger In Thunder Bay”), but rarely does he hit the nail on the head. He comes close on the off-meter chorus to “Bridge To Nowhere” and the sprawling classic rock/prog fencesitter “Mind Flood,” yet his failure to engage on a personal level leaves Chemical City a cold and lifeless place.
— Steve Forstneger
