Jock's "Blindside" really is blind.

The cast is stupendous -- "The Mountain Stars Band" features performances by Bob Harris (Frank Zappa, Warren Zevon), Richie Furay (Poco, Buffalo Springfield), Rusty Young (Poco), John McCuen (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band), Jimmy Fadden (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band), Mark Andes (Firefall, Heart, Spirit), John Magnie (Subdudes), Brian Nevin (Big Head Todd & the Monsters), Michael Travis (String Cheese Incident), Jake Sproul (Rose Hill Drive) ... as well as other local luminaries Brian McCrae, Brian Schey, Eben Grace, Hazel Miller, Rebecca Folsom, Christian Teele, Chris Engleman, Chris Daniels, and others.I had very high hopes for this cd, as well as Richie Furay's "come-back" album. This one has failed me. Jock lapses into horrendous instances of seventies schmaltz and eighties excess. His own vocals misfire more often than they succeed. His songwriting hasn't moved past the glory days of Firefall's wonderful pop hits of the early to mid seventies. And, unlike America, whose latest effort was masterfully produced to bring their seventies sound into the future, this one relies too heavily on regurgitated remnants of the past, without a modern indie-pop sheen.Jock writes and performs as if he thinks a fifty-something can claim fame today among the rising legion of "kids" doing revisionist rock, ala Wolfmother and Rose Hill Drive, or the aforementioned America. The problem with this is that despite a string of hits from a couple of albums in the seventies, Jock never had the power to begin with, and shows us nothing new here. Jock is showing us how it USED to be done, not how it's done today, or could be done. This is just another Firefall attempt with a bit more guitar bite, and a better cast than Jock has had to work with in many years. Too bad the wonderful cast is mostly wasted. There's just no cool factor here.Firefall wasn't successful because of Jock, although his legacy in Colorado is safe, having played lead guitar in Gram Parson's Fallen Angels, Zephyr, and Firefall. Too bad he rode Firefall's legacy into deeply rutted gravelly mountain byways. Firefall succeeded because of former Flying Burrito Brother Rick Roberts (vocals, guitar, and most of the songwriting), ex-Burrito and Byrd Michael Clarke (drums), and ex-Spirit and Jo Jo Gunne bassist Mark Andes. Sure Jock's lead guitar work fit the form perfectly. But it was Roberts and the others who brought the real inspiration and fire. Jock was never a great songwriter, and he does nothing to improve his reputation with this effort.Listen to "Just Let Go" and you're hearing Firefall's "Cinderella" with enough Santana leanings that you wonder if Jock didn't listen to "Supernatural" too many times, the guitar work is that derivative. The "Soul Sacrifice" type of percussion also lends itself to this comparison. "Goodhearted Man," featuring John Magnie (Subdudes) is so highly derivative of early John "Cougar" that the real John Mellencamp would likely cringe for all the work he's done to rid himself of the image. Mainstream forty and fifty year olds might probably dig this disc. It's safe. It doesn't go where they haven't. It stays within the speed limit just fine. Even my fifty-something significant other says, "this sounds old." -- Oh, one last thing ... the face shot between three guitar necks on the back? .. uhhhh ... nooo ... dude, what were you thinking?Four songs available at: Jock Bartley on MySpace