Review of Cathall by Swag

So, whilst roaming around the Internet looking for something new in the Rock/Pop dept. I happened upon this little beauty.
`Catch All' is a wonderful mish mash of many musical styles. First off I'll throw out the influences this album clearly thrives on. The most obvious being the Beatles from the extremely well crafted `Norwegian Wood' stylings of both `Near Perfect Smile' and `Different Girl' to the Upbeat and wonderful `Hard Day's Night' era track `Please don't tell' with it's hard sharp jangly guitars & great strained vocals. I think Paul McCartney would be pleased to hear such well crafted homage. But the Beatles aren't the only guy's in the mix. I could hear `Cheap Trick', `Kinks', `Bon Jovi', Any Brit-Pop Band you care to mention from the early 90's (Cast, Dodgy etc.) and even `Queen'. Just check track 2 `I'll get by' with the slightly `It's a Kind of Magic' lead in.

This is an album that isn't shy about wearing all its influences on its multi-talented sleeves. Speaking of which lets throw in `Burt Bacharach' for good measure on track 5's 'When She Awoke' with it's epic sweeping sound and highly romanticized chorus line that steadily evolves to a wonderful crashing finale, horns blazing in the background like some 70's Soft Rock classic wannabe. So, as you can see there's a lot going on in this album. Nice use of uncommon instruments. Harmonicas, Violin's, Piano's & Bells used the way they used to back in the 60's. I had never heard of this band/album up until 10 days ago.

It pays to search around for those unfamilar but sometimes wonderful recordings. I mean, who knew there were so many hidden gems out there?
So If you're looking for some well written, well played rock/pop you couldn't do better than give this a try.