Hockey Night “Get Real” (Best of the Decade)
Like Lifter Puller before them, Hockey Night were an amazing local band that never got the respect that they deserved. It now seems like they will be following in the footsteps of Craig Finn and the gang by moving to the East Coast and making it big with their new band. While Free Energy aren’t at the level the Hold Steady are, with the buzz they are getting before even putting out an album, it isn’t hard to see it coming. Like the Lifter Puller-Hold Steady transition, the Hockey Night-Free Energy move finds the band taking a more straightforward approach on their second try. Where Free Energy is a pretty straightforward glam/garage rock band, Hockey Night fell a little more into the angular, post-Pavement vibe that swept across the country in the late ’90s early ’00s. A great example is the bouncing, propulsive “Get Real,” which features all of the quirky goodness that made the band so great. Much like the propulsive “Get Real,” the rest of the band’s 2005 album Keep Guessin’ is fun LP that combines the bands angular, driving guitar riffs with some killer vocal melodies that showed the band taking a well worn sound and bringing it to life. “Get Real” is a quirky song that highlights the fun style that has gotten the new group more attention, even if people missed out on their amazing original act.
Loved this record and listened to it lots the summer it came out. There were a few songs from a Daytrotter session that were ones written after this album that were great too. I definitely miss this band.