★★★★
When We Disappear
BLUE ROSE. CD/DL/LP
Having followed The Mother Hips through 30-odd years and a dozen albums, I still don’t have an easy answer as to what kind of band they are. All I know is that whatever they play or sing sounds like California. Late-’60s/early-’70s West Coast country rock and soul play a big part – at its best here on tender, bittersweet Leaving The Valley and masterful, Gram Parsons-y Almost To Idaho. Sometimes it brings to mind The Band – if The Band were a jam band. There’s also elements of psych rock and Beach Boys (both can be found in Room Four) as well as harmonies (Lost Out The Window) and rocking blues (She Stepped Away).
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