Playing Frogger in the Soccer Mom lane (Dodge Minivan Reviews)

[Pigfarmer Jr]

A 1980 Dodge van was my very first car
I drove her around just everywhere
Had three hundred thousand hard miles on that motor
Been haulin' my family 'round long as I remember
Now that van was mine
Gonna turn her around one more time
That beautiful big brown 1980 Dodge van

Please place your lyrics in the appropriate thread: viewtopic.php?t=13044

[Lunkhead]

Songs posted!

[WreckdoMelle]

Jeff DeSantis - This is a nice song, really pretty harmonies, straight-ahead sensibilities in terms of chord progression and execution, one cannot go wrong with major tonality and an honest story, and the hook is there, I like the resolution (and the very lovely chord change into the bridge!) on "Dodge Minivan". This leads me to thinking on the movie Nomad, and further back, the book Blue Highways, both about folks making habitation in their vans by choice and necessity. There are any number of folks like our subject, in some liminal space in their lives, perhaps which becomes permanent, perhaps which leads to, if not the better, something else.

Baghdad - Here we see the benevolent, family friendly minivan becoming something of a menace. Musically dark tonality befitting the subject matter. Interesting guitar tone, giving a sort of tunnel-effect, it fits with the gruff vocal delivery and overall threatening theme. I'm going to look twice before crossing the street, because truly one never knows! I'm not sure how it is where you live but where I live traffic is notoriously terrible, and the driver is always to be regarded with some caution if not downright skepticism!

State Shirt - I do like me some detuning, suitably wobbly-feeling in headphones. This is a banger, candylike. That zeitgiest, AI, yea though I walk through the shadow of the Uncanny Valley, amirite? I assign that woobly feeling of the detune to the not quite reality of our protagonist, which I find poetic. Full disclaimer I do not understand poetry but I do understand the tragic role Dodge Minivan has played here.

The Economy Biscuits - Strong start with car sounds and driving, rockin' opener. I like this a lot. I'm an admittedly novice mixer but I might suggest the guitar overtakes the vocals just a touch, I want them to be neck and neck. Sweet, sentimental attachment to family, good times, a venerable family fixture, the Dodge Minivan, hopefully not a foreshadowing (why am I thinking there's some foreshadowing??).

Pig Farmer, Jr. - Holy heck, I figure I've said this before but, you can mix a tune something fierce. This sounds great! The spare instrumentality is lovely, clean in execution and I will probably be humming that catchy hook later. Sentimental feelings for far off times, but gratitude for what has come to pass, Dodge Minivan is a symbol of a sacrifice of personal style and independence for the responsibility to safety and family.

BWATBW - for me there was no question but to do an upbeat punk rock tune, and scavenge some sounds from actual Dodge Caravans. There was the Dodge Caravan, and it's Chrysler analog the Town & Country and also the Plymouth Voyager, all the same car. My buddy used to care for a disabled veteran in a wheelchair and so he had such a Plymouth minivan. We took it to New Orleans, all of us, my friend, his partner, the old man, and me, and lived in it for a few days as we reveled in Mardi Gras. That was some adventure and my entry for Floating Away was about that. A few years later, my friend went into a gas station and when he came out the old man had passed away quietly in the passenger seat of the Plymouth. My friend himself passed away recently and I said a few words at his gathering over the weekend, about wonder and starstuff, and the reverberation of a person's movements over the lives of those who've loved them. This Dodge Minivan rendition is based on a life-affirming enjoyment of careening around town in some vehicle filled with my pals, blasting tunes and wafting the smoke of a half-dozen burning cigs, at least one of which was left-handed, and narrowly escaping all the infamous pitfalls of young vehicular foolery. Admittedly, I did it rather hastily and struggled for a bass tone that I had to compromise on but I like it well enough.

[Pigfarmer Jr]

Baghdad: I like the live feeling of the recording. Maybe the mix suffers a little bit from the usual live mix problems but mostly everything translates fairly well. It helps to have a fairly sparse arrangement.

Brown Word and the Big Whine: Those vocals are pretty clear on top of that thundering bass and grungy guitar sound. There is some meat on these bones, for sure.

The Economy Biscuits: Ooh, digging the wall of guitars, they are sounding good. The vocal maybe lacks a bit of heft but it cuts through nicely over the guitars. Did I mention I like the guitars? Kind of a slow burn but with some heft.

Jeff DeSantis: Fits fairly well into my recent alt.country listening soundscape. The doubled vox works nicely. I like how well you fit the title into the chorus, nice and natural like. This is kind of a cross between the Band and the Jayhawks... or something like that.

Pigfarmer Jr: Pretty damn happy with the lyric. As with most of my songs in this vein, I think it's too slow and drags a bit. I need to rethink the arrangement, I think. Or maybe add some flavor.

State Shirt: Liking the intro quite a bit. The vocals are smooth. Some cool pop sensibilities in the mix/arrangement heading into the four on the floor steady burn.

[Lunkhead]

The results are in and the fight has been won by ... Jeff DeSantis and State Shirt!

[Pigfarmer Jr]

Congratz, Jeff and SS. Jeff, I especially liked your entry.

[freff]

Thanks. To be honest, I voted for State Shirt.