When one gets on in life, one tends to look at the past: re-evaluating it and hopefully learning from it.  There was a part that has reappeared with unexpected clarity . . . Dog Society’s first and, for a long time, their last album.  It came out in 1993.

Back then, I was living in East Lansing.  There was a bar called Small Planet that had bands.  For most of my life, if there was a place that regularly had decent bands, I would be there.  If I was bored and there was a band playing, I would go.  It didn’t matter if I heard of them or not.  On this particular night in late 1993, I had no idea who was playing and, since I was bored, I showed up early.  As I walked through the door and someone handed me a CD.  They did this with great overdone ceremony.  “You were one of the first ( I forgot the number) people through the door.  Congratulations!  You win a copy of Dog Society’s CD!”  My response was a confused look and something in Mumblese (you know that great language.  The one spoken by only the supremely incommunicative.).

By the time the band appeared, I’d had a few beers and was not in the best of moods.  My remembrance of that night’s performance was sitting in the back (which I rarely do when a band is performing) and watching a band with good music and a vocalist that (seemed to me at the time) doing a bad version of Jim Morrison imitating Anthony Keitis trying hard to be Mr. Funk.  This may have been coloured by my bad mood along with the beer.

Strangely enough, I talked to the guitarist (Bruce Erik Brauer) afterward.  I remember telling him I liked their music but their singer bothered me by trying too hard and posturing.  The guitarist’s response was very polite.  He said something like,  “Yeah, he can get that way sometimes but he really is a good frontman.  He’s a really great guy when you get to know him and he’s very talented.”

The next day I listened to the CD and was immensely surprised.  The vocalist really did have a good voice and, better yet, the lyrics were fantastic.  Now the only thing annoying my about the band was the production.  Obviously, the edges had been smoothed over too much for my taste but the strength of the songs, I felt, was undeniable.

Fast forward twenty-some years later . . . I’m listening to the album in my car and Test Your Own Eyes has a new resonance!  In an odd way the lyrics have even more relevance.  It opens with a song that contains the great line, “Life is just a crazy dream/ remember only certain scenes/and you wake up/ when you’re dead.”

The second song “Love is all Gone” was written from the perspective the middle-agers in the early 1990’s.  “Now I am older/and everything’s changed . . . I hate everything.” “All you needed was love/and love was free /but love is all gone now”  I see that attitude recreated in people my age.  Many cling to the past so much  they reject anything new.  Just as younger people reject anything old because it’s old.  Both attitudes are destructive.

“Time to Go”  has the line: “I hope I’m not alone/ when I die.”  All the lyrics set that line up and the whole song is pushing through like a speeding train. Fun to watch but don’t get in its way.

“Rhythm of Rain” is more of a mood song with a couple of great guitar solos.  The solos are not showy. They serve the song though they are reminiscent of your typical Classic Rock solos  . . . but, still, they are so perfect for the song.

“Nothing Too Big” has the stand out line, “I was down and out for a while/ shaking hands with the devil himself.”  “The World is on my shoulders.”  The song conveys the feeling of the weight of the world’s miseries while still seeing the possibilities.  Seeing a crack of light in the darkness.

“Word Salad” pretty much sums up today much more than when the song was made.  For such a mellow song it has very heavy lyrics emotionally.  The lyrics speak for themselves and the music is an entity all to itself.

“The Distance” is another song that seems to apply more to today than when it was made.  I don’t normally like to do a song by song analysis.  This album, however, seems like such a long lost treasure.

I will skip the next two songs because I usually do when I listen.  It’s the part of the album where they try to be a funk band.  Maybe it’s the production but it doesn’t seem they are comfortable.  I appreciate they sentiment but it seems like overreaching.  That’s ok.  A band needs to do that if they are going to have room to grow.  It just seems forced to me . . . even now.

But then . . . there’s the peak of the album . . . “Society Dancer.”  If there is a song to end an album with, this is it.  The song is so strong, the lyrics are great.  “If you close your mind instead/might as well lie with the dead (your God is waiting for you)”  “Here we are/and we don’t know what to do”  “Here we are/and there’s so much we can do”  The spoken word samples are great.  The song is a statement without being preachy.

The album ends with a track meant to sound like a message on someone’s answering machine.  The little poem is unusual.  It’s inadequate to describe it.  I might as well quote the entire thing but . . . better yet, I will let you discover it yourself.  Why spoil everything?

Epilogue:  This was Dog Society’s only album until 2012 or 13.   It was distributed through Atlantic Records.  At the time of this writing, none of there songs are on YouTube.  That’s a shame.  I would but I don’t upload on YouTube.  Maybe someday . . . . These guys are based out of New York.  The lineup was/is: vocalist Brian Schnaak, Bruce Erik Brauer (guitar), Rich Guerzon (Bass) and Joe Ranieri (Drums + Percussion).  Around 2012 or 13 they reformed and have two further albums.  I have heard neither.  As far as I understand, the band has remained friends throughout.  According to Bruce Erik Brauer*,  it was only a matter of time before they made music together again.  I would encourage you to seek them out.  This first album has lots of possibility.

*Can’t seem to find the original article that I got that from, sorry.