Reviews Radio Free ABQ and Destination
(Click the title for the full review)
Scummy Water Tower
Overall, Destination is a wonderfully done concept album. With themes of meaning and searching and adventure. Of being found, and not lost. Of being remembered.Purcell has a skill of superb storytelling and creating perspective in an incredibly grounded and human way. If you’re looking for an excellent singer-songwriter album for the reasons mentioned in the previous sentence, look no further. This is arguably one of 2024’s best written albums and there are more than a handful of examples of songs that prove the assertion. Purcell’s vocals are among the best you’ll hear out of the Americana adjacent genres this year. (4.5/5)
On Repeat Records
(Review #1) The band’s latest single “Tito (Far Away, Not Lonely)” is a fantastic ode to big dreams…Dave cites inspiration from artists as diverse as REM, Los Lobos, and Calexico, and it’s not hard to find strands of DNA from each throughout the track. However, listeners may also hear traces of singer-songwriters like JJ Cale and Mark Knopfler. Whether listening in full sun or under a canopy of stars, it all makes for quite an adventure.
(Review #2) It was an honor to recently premier the record’s lead single, “Tito (Far Away, Not Lonely),” and the entire record is an incredible field trip through roots rock, Americana, and the sort of dreams that take place after falling asleep next to a transistor radio playing music from the faraway big city. RIYL Son Volt, Calexico, and staying up late to listen to music from distant lands.
Rosy Overdrive
On their debut record, Destination, Purcell and his new bandmates fully embrace the bandleader’s new southwestern habitat, turning in a desert-set roots rock/Americana album that contains bits of regional legends like Calexico, Alejandro Escovedo, Giant Sand, and Dave Alvin.
Just because Radio Free ABQ’s peers aren’t hard to point to doesn’t mean that Destination isn’t a unique record, though…his latest project enthusiastically throws together mid-period R.E.M.-like college rock, Los Lobos-esque Chicano-inspired rock and roll, and, most surprisingly, synthesizer/space pop-influenced “noir pop” moments in the instrumentals, too. It all amounts to a forty-six minute statement that’s a strong reintroduction to a musician who’s been around for quite a bit but still has plenty of ideas and things to say.
ABQ Green Room
The album is a spectacular orchestral achievement, vibrant and hardy, meditative in a cyclic way. Their very band name, Radio Free ABQ, makes a sort of big promise—maybe that they present the motley sound of the city. With an eclectic assembly of instruments and a strong theme of community, I think Destination gets close to delivering on their promise.
Add To Wantlist
They’ve just released their first full-length album Destination, which they say “lands in the space between Wilco and Calexico” (I would add Cracker and Chuck Prophet as references), “drawing on Americana, indie rock and desert noir.” We get twelve well-produced songs—partly instrumental—about searching for meaning, connection and a place to call home. The lyrics are memorable (“Singing Hallelujah at 3am // Fueled by the third wind of the night // We’ll burn you down like Warren Zevon // We’ll burn ‘til everything’s all right”—from Playing For Keeps), the vocals road-worn but magnetic, and the instrumentation and samples rich and warm—there’s a lot to enjoy and discover here.
3Albums6OldGuys at Substack
I still have great affection for bands like R.E.M., Uncle Tupelo, Calexico, Los Lobos, Drive-By Truckers, as well as the late great Stevie Ray Vaughan. All of these influences – from the musical styles to the interesting character-driven lyrics – can be heard on Destination, the thoroughly enjoyable, skillfully crafted latest release from Radio Free ABQ…
But as of late, there have not been many indie records that evoke desert noir and the American Southwest as well as Radio Free ABQ’s Destination. The music is fresh and, with each song, the lyrics drop the listener in the middle of a story. If the idea of blending R.E.M. with Calexico sounds appealing, then Radio Free ABQ’s Destination is absolutely worth checking out.
Lost In The Manor
Based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Radio Free ABQ, craft a riveting blend of indie rock, Americana, and desert noir in their soundscapes. Tito (Far Away, Not Lonely) is the striking single from the band’s latest album, Destination. This song will get you revisiting your big dreams, contemplating about maybe, giving them another chance. The lyrical ode to seemingly impossible dreams, like going to space in your self-built device, is given the perfect soundscape, one that feels warm, essential-only, and softly inspiring. Radiant guitars, winding synth tunes, swinging drum rhythms, and expressive vocals converge into an adventurous and energetic musical space, one that is calling out for you to explore. R.E.M., Los Lobos, Calexico, and other similar musical influences can be felt throughout the sound, making it a compelling listening experience, if not for the already exciting and enlivening story.
Cincinnati CityBeat
Dave Purcell’s music has ranged from the sturdy Americana of Pike 27 to the gauzier after hours ephemera of Ghost Man on Second, but at its molten core, where the magnetic gravity is created, it’s been a rootsy Midwestern romp through a soundscape peppered with sonic references to the likes of the Jayhawks, Soul Asylum and Bottlerockets with a dash of badass Detroit bluster, boiled down to a purified essence and filtered through Purcell’s singular songwriting perspective.
The breaking news is that a recent move to the Southwest has unlocked all sorts of new compartments in Purcell’s creative treasure chest. Imagine the mariachi band on Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” after an ayahuasca and cranberry juice cleanse sitting in with a Los Lobos side project. Imagine Joe Strummer collaborating with Spoon in studio on Stan Ridgway’s Mexican radio while Elvis Costello watches detectives digging for evidence in the desert heat. Imagine 21st century Howe Gelb time travelling back to 1980s Howe Gelb for a Giant Sand jam session with himself. Imagine this is all a shared hallucinatory fever dream between Joey Burns and John Convertino and they turn it into a Calexico rock opera.
Genres orbit around Purcell’s dome like rogue satellites transmitting galactic signals directly into his main frame. His influences aren’t chiseled in stone, they are as malleable as sculptor’s clay and he molds his songs in a similarly flexible manner, reflecting his creative soul’s prismatic response to his musical inspirations as well as his own estimable accomplishments. You can attempt to attribute a specific sonic qualifier to his work but, at the end of a long, hot, beautiful day, Dave Purcell don’t need no stinking badges. — Brian Baker
About Pike 27, Dave’s Previous Band
Cincinnati CityBeat on The Long Fight
Like other great musical acts of the past 40 years, Pike 27 conjures the same spirit as the best of the massively influential Costello’s work, sharing with him not only a melodic magnetism, but also an ability to vividly and perceptively translate and project through song a full range of moods and emotions (from passion and ache to triumph, joy and beyond)…one of the best Cincinnati-produced releases of 2017.
WVXU-FM (Cincinnati) on Calling Out
The R.E.M. influence is palpable in all five tracks of their new EP, Calling Out – an obvious nod to “Radio Free Europe.” Both the jangling open-string chord structure of the music and the self-effacing, deconstructivist imagery of Purcell’s poetry bring to mind classic R.E.M. titles like Fables of the Reconstruction and Life’s Rich Pageant. But Pike 27 avoids becoming a “wannabe R.E.M. band” by deftly incorporating styles reminiscent of Alejandro Escovedo with rhythms that are soulful and yet dipped in honky-tonk.
WRFL-FM (Lexington, KY) on Calling Out
What a way to come back from a breakup; this album is simply amazing in the way they mix their Americana roots with influence from pop and more upbeat rhythms.
Midpoint Music Festival Review, 2014
This new iteration of Pike 27 is a powerhouse of scorching guitar, earth-moving bass and jackhammer drumming, and while there are vestiges of the band’s Roots Rock history, everyone’s balls are definitely within the vicinity of some wall or other and medal is being pedaled with controlled abandon. Start to stop, Pike 27 careened from song to song with the visceral intensity of The Old 97s and dashes of Alejandro Escovedo and Grant Lee Buffalo at their delicately nuanced and head-kicked obvious best. This seems to be a fertile period for long dormant bands to renew themselves and that can always be a problematic situation, but Pike 27 is clear evidence that having the right motivation to return can evolve into a stunning and most welcomed result.
CityBeat Midpoint Music Festival Preview, 2005
Politically aware and joyously swaggering, Pike 27 are one of the best Roots Rock acts in Greater Cincinnati, though they’ve been woefully absent from the club circuit the past several months. Fronted by singer/songwriter Dave Purcell and backed by a band of local music vets, Pike 27 have one stellar release in their cannon so far: 2001’s Falling Down Hard. Crawling out of the cavern for their annual MPMF showcase, Pike should be extra boisterous this year. Dig it: Old Steve Earle, older Rolling Stones, that guy yelling about Noam Chomsky at the end of the bar.
Jason Ringenberg on Falling Down Hard, 2002
Like the Ohio River that spawned the band, Pike 27 is deep, steady, and true. The lyrics hit home like a cold glass of lemonade in July, and they have a much better gift for melody than is common in Amercian Roots bands. However, when the occasion warrants it they can rock to beat the devil.
Santa Monica Mirror on Falling Down Hard, 2002
Wrecking Yard” hums like a vintage song by The Smithereens and “Baltimore” is like Tom Petty jamming with The Blasters. I’m not making these comparisons lightly. Pike 27 (who are from Cincinnati) are real comers who also know who came before them. If an album like “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” can spark interest in our nation’s traditional folk music, maybe a band like Pike 27 can rekindle excitement in no-frills, good old American rock and roll. Pike 27 brings to mind Ryan Adams, a musical Jackie Robinson who’s crossed over the alt-country line and become a bona fide rock star.
Americana UK on Falling Down Hard, 2002
It’s refreshing to hear from the opening chords of first track “Wrecking Yard” a strong hybrid college rock sound. The songs contained on this, their debut CD, are rootsy (particularly the Steve Earle-esque “Devil’s Radio”) without losing their edge. Lead singer Dave Purcell’s ear for a good hook and passionate lyric can leave you blinded.
Rockzillaworld on Falling Down Hard, 2002
Falling Down Hard blasts out of the gate with Wrecking Yard. This tune, with its driving rhythm and Purcell’s cerebral lyrics, could be slotted into Scott Miller’s great Thus Always to Tyrants without upsetting its balance. Purcell isn’t shy about his politics, addressing broken aspirations and what they say about the American dream.
Cincinnati Post on Falling Down Hard, 2001
This band’s debut disc, Falling Down Hard, with nine driving, gutty tracks — what sets the group apart from your basic roadhouse, hell-raising band is Purcell’s cerebral, and often political, writing.
CincyMusic on Falling Down Hard, 2001
You take Falling Down Hard straight – no ice and no fancy pink umbrellas please. The sound is sweaty, boozy guitars, crackling percussion and emotional storytelling at its finest. The essence of the recording is less polished pop and more raw, live performance.
Cincinnati CityBeat on Falling Down Hard, 2001
Falling Down Hard is a masterful stab at impassioned Roots Rock, showing that they whole-heartedly set out to emphasize the “Rock” part of that equation as much as the “Roots” part. But the band also shows flashes of grace on Falling, especially on the moving, elegant “5/17,” one of the best local songs of the year.
Cincinnati Enquirer on Falling Down Hard, 2001
A roots-rock keeper — Dave Purcell, the brains, voice, and rhythm guitar behind Pike 27, has delivered state-of-the-union Americana with his band’s debut CD. It’s smart, rocking and concise, one of the year’s most promising debuts by a Tristate act.