REVIEWS

Illinois Entertainer, August 2000 review, entire text:

Stalwart local band The Good, now a four-piece with singer/songwriter/guitarists Devin Arkin and Tony Rogers, Dave Rothkopf on bass, and John Goodman on drums, prove their mettle with their third and best release, Breaking Up & Down. Too smart for its own good, this band continues to drum out clever pop-rock songs, inject humor, ingenuity, and brain power into a genre that sorely needs it.

"Rebounder" captures the guy who's hanging around just waiting for you and your girlfriend to break up, while "I'm A Boy"s up-with-girls handclap beat will have you turning up the volume without even realizing you're doing it. "The Deal" chronicles the contracting of a relationship, while "Sadderday" points toward the end of one. A few tracks float to the top of the Good crop: "Star Now" is a terrific hooky lament to a now-famous gal pal, with a wordplay off "constellation" and "consolation." "Fight Song" begins like an actual English-football type fight song, although the fight is of course a love fight, off the field.

But what really won my heart was the track called "Steven Ramey," a popfest that tells the tale of the title guy with a chorus of "Steven Ramey, yeah yeah yeah." Brilliant. Damn, these guys are good...

8 (out of 10)

Gwen Ihnat