The Yayhoos - Fear Not The Obvious (2001)

After several years of sporadic performances and a handful of tunes featured on obscure tribute albums and movie soundtracks, the Yayhoos have finally released a full-length album. Fear Not the Obvious is indeed a telling title for a collection of blue-collar rock tunes made up of the most basic (in fact almost trite) hooks, chords, and lyrics. The phony country of "Bottle and a Bible" is a complete waste of time, and the good-ole-boy swagger of "Hankerin'" is just embarrassing. But the songs saving Fear Not the Obvious from the bargain bins are many. Eric Ambel's crackling guitar riff makes "Monkey With a Gun" a surefire roadhouse rave-up, the high-octane Keith Richards riffing on "I Can Give You Everything" is as dead-on as the Neil Young-ish drop-D tuning meets the Faces sound of "Cryin' Out Loud." Perhaps the most fun though is the country-rock reading of ABBA's "Dancing Queen," which works surprisingly well and highlights that song's addictive melody.