Damaged Goods

Singer/songwriter Brian Krumm's romantic misadventures amongst the night clubs and night owls are the concern of the Great Crusades' fine sophomore release. The band crafts a unique blend of country, soul, and rock that never loses its spine, even during the quietest moments, providing a full-blooded backdrop for Krumm's tales of boozy love at first sight, one-night stands gone awry, and doomed marriages. His windy home base of Chicago is as important a character as any, as Krumm namechecks the very bars, commuter trains, and pawn shops where his troubles with women and drink take place. Damaged Goods immediately establishes the tone of the set with "Feels So Good (To Be in Bed With You)," a passionate lament about longing and seasonal depression, introducing the hard-living bachelor who faces loneliness and drunkenness head-on without the life skills to handle either. This kind of romantic confusion and dysfunction is wistful as a teenager, but embarrassing and depressing as an adult, and the despair is evident in Krumm's voice. He owes an obvious debt to barroom crooners like Tom Waits and Mark Eitzel, but by the conclusion of Damaged Goods, his whiskey-burned howl has erased any memory of influences. Krumm has a plain-spoken lyrical style ("I invited myself in/You said 'I guess it's okay, but this doesn't mean you're spending the night'") that suggests diary entries forced into meter, sometimes awkwardly but always genuine. Highlights include the mariachi-enhanced road story "Chevy Nova" and "Tomorrow's Gonna Be a Surprise," a chillingly accurate character sketch of an emotionally stunted man who can't keep his marriages from failing. ~ Fred Beldin|