Daytrotter's Best 15 Albums of 2007: No. 11 Dr. Dog's "We All Belong"
Jan 8, 2008
Words by Sean Moeller
Illustration by Johnnie Cluney
The way that Scott McMicken rolls a homemade cigarette is similar to the way that his band - the Philadelphia golden boys Dr. Dog - make music. It’s rough around the edges, yet thorough. It’s shambolic, yet picturesque and inspiring. McMicken will do most of the work without even looking at the rolling paper and dried tobacco leaves. He’ll pinch, tuck and coil it up, still making good eye contact. There remains that care for everything around him - the person in front of him and the stick he’s about to smoke. It’s a sort of benevolence for all of the various aspects of living and loving that is the totem for all of the key points that make _We All Belong_ so retro glamorous and that make them the most genuine dogs they can be. The 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love (assuming the capitalization here) came and went this summer, a mood and attitude that Dr. Dog doesn’t illustrate outwardly, but certainly endorses in its mentality. It was the spring, summer, fall and winter of Dr. Dog, mostly because of they gave us something to live for - a collection of stories that emphasize that it’s not all about gold and shit, it’s about grabbing that tiger by the thick, ropey tail and letting it drag you some. It’s about getting up on the right side of the bed and not worrying about the fool manning the strings of the marionette doll. It’s about cherishing the song and what put it into your throat that day. Good work Dog.
*What this here said about this album back in the earlier of the year:*
"Death is a valuable tool for making living sweeter, just as salt is used on tequila and limes are used with Coronas, and Dr. Dog - though they aren’t real doctors - prescribe both ideas in large doses on _We All Belong_, the group’s full-length follow-up to _Easy Beat_, a hazy snack of impeccable, sundried offerings that are rarely timorous, but instead exhibit so much hot-bloodedness that it’s easy to discern that they choose life over lingering on what will be. There’s a lot of old soul feeling to what they do, as if they were young men filled to the lashes with the spirits of thousands of mild-mannered grandfathers, who’d experienced all of the 50s and 60s as young men, with fires in the pits of their stomachs and unwrinkled skins. It’s as if they’re on both the front and back ends of lives - with the youthful swagger and exploratory gene as well as the realization that days are numbered and the time’s ripe for reflection and kicking and screaming before kicking the bucket."
*Daytrotter's Best 15 Albums of 2007*
15. John Vanderslice -- _Emerald City_
14. The National -- _Boxer_
13. These United States -- _The Forest and the Garden_
12. The Teeth -- _You're My Lover Now_
11. Dr. Dog -- _We All Belong_
"Dr. Dog Daytrotter Session":http://www.daytrotter.com/article/548/free-songs-dr-dog
"Dr. Dog Official Site":http://www.drdogmusic.com
"Park The Van Records":http://www.parkthevan.com
