Martin Zellar & The Hardways – Self-Titled

Perhaps my hopes are just too high for Martin Zellar, given that his former band the Gear Daddies seemed ultimately one of the best (if most underappreciated) bands the mid-late 80s Minneapolis scene produced. Lost in the shadow of their harder-edged brethren such as the Replacements, Husker Du and Soul Asylum, the Gear Daddies quietly churned out a couple albums of first-rate rural-tinged rock n roll without ever really receiving their due.

So when Zellar resurfaced last year on Rykodisc with the decidedly unimpressive Born Under, it was easy to cut him a little slack and assume it was just going to take some time for him to settle into his post-Daddies existence. Now, though, it seems the only thing thats settling is his songwriting talent. For the second album in a row, Zellar seems incapable of writing a memorable melody, relying on a simple, easygoing roots-rock sound to cover up any real musical inspiration.

Which makes it even easier now to draw parallels between Zellar and Paul Westerberg than it was when such comparisons were frequently made during the heydays of their respective bands on the Minneapolis scene. Would anyone really argue that Westerberg solo cuts such as World Class Fad or Youve Had It With You are as inspired as the songs that made the Replacements legendary? Similarly, I quite frankly dont see this discs Brown-Eyed Boy or Hammers Gonna Fall making anyone forget (or, perhaps more tellingly, even remember) Gear Daddies nuggets such as Stupid Boy and Boys Will Be Boys. Worse still is Guilty Just the Same, which, for all its well-intentioned social consciousness, just comes off as heavy-handed melodrama.

Its hard to write off Zellar just yet, but after two strikes, hes clearly behind on the count.