Health & Happiness Show – Sad And Sexy
Even if Sad And Sexy didn’t feature a song called “Continents” whose catchy chorus hinged on the lines “When I look into your eyes/I see the continents divide,” you’d still probably think about the Continental Drifters when listening to it.
Both the Drifters and New Jersey-based journeyband Health & Happiness Show empty their closets and pull out accordions, Hammond organs and mellotrons to make folk-rock ‘n’ roll that owes a debt to The Band and all their rustic offspring. Plus, both are second-generation outfits of sorts: Health & Happiness frontman and songwriting ace James Mastro was in the Bongos, while Vincent DeNunzio was the original drummer for the Feelies. (No need to recount the extensive resumes of the Drifters here.)
That’s not to say these bands are mirror images. Sad And Sexy has much more of a rock crunch than either of the Drifters’ records, a guitar-driven grind that’s showcased on two tribute tunes: “What’s A Road For?” and “We Don’t Know (blues song)”, dedicated to Ronnie Lane and Jeff Buckley, respectively. The shuffling, Dylanish “Don’t Give Me Lonely Tonight” also stands out, but it’s the album’s bookends that are the most striking compositions. The opener “How To Breathe” is a road song that, appropriately, travels at gravel-road speed on the verses and hits the highway on the chorus, whereas the ambitious closer, “Six Ft. Overground”, could be Lou Reed trying on a roots-rocker’s suit.