The Gardeners Tomato (Greenhouse)

The Gardeners

Tomato (Greenhouse)

The Gardeners hoe whiteboy funk, but not in the Limp Korn Bizkit mold; it's more along the lines of early-Nineties stuff like Billygoat or Mary's Danish. And there's a reason that stuff went out of style -- because it's lame. The New Orleans-style riff-rock of numbers like "Big Dog" is hamstrung by production that could use some Miracle-Gro and vocals that sound like they were recorded from down the street somewhere. On the funky side, numbers like "Girl," "I Wanna Write Tunes," and "One Gibney" just run together in a wash of chukka-chukka guitars, world-beat bongos, and chest-thumping vocals. This band would be excellent on a bill with Atlanta's Cadillac Voodoo Choir; they're equally full of flailing energy and soulful vocal growls, and both are equally forgettable. These Gardeners should plant some better songs and let 'em grow; the potential is there, but lost in undernourished tuneage and watered-down production.