Workdogs have described their music as "talking blues." While that description doesn't quite apply to their more rock-oriented follow-up,
Old, it definitely applies to their debut,
Roberta. Originally released on vinyl by Ohio's Okra in 1988, it was reissued on CD by Sympathy for the Record Industry in 1993 with bonus track, "Jane Gone." Throughout the recording, the New York duo of Scott Jarvis on drums and Rob Kennedy on bass and vocals (with accompaniment on guitar, saxophone, piano, harmonica, etc.) have rambling on their mind. The centerpiece of their ramblings, the title track "Roberta," clocks in at over 16 minutes and relates the epic tale of the singer's -- or, more accurately, the talker's -- obsession with a seductive kleptomaniac first encountered while in grade school.
Roberta is the real folk-blues by way of
Lou Reed and R. Crumb (i.e., "Woman Is More Than a Box We Come In"). ~ Kathleen C. Fennessy