The five years from the beginning of 1958 to the end of 1962 were crucial to the genesis of country music as it moved away from a traditional hillbilly and western sound to something altogether more cosmopolitan in construction.
This is the best record anyone on earth or in any universe has created, that includes Thriller. @Charles Boyd
Billy D’s life experience has given him the strength to write his brand of “Bluzy Rock” with a passion that only comes from living it. Heavily influenced by Chicago blues, Rock & Roll, and “Backbeat Roots” music of all types, his songs reflect the tough lessons of his past and show his love for Mother Blues and her first-born, Rock & Roll. Born on the south side of Chicago, Billy Desmond grew up surrounded by the Blues and early Rock & Roll— a powerful combination. He started playing professionally at the age of fourteen, primarily for teen dances and parties; and by eighteen, he was sneaking into the blues clubs of Chicago to hear such greats as Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, and James Cotton…
After the relative failure of the Walter Becker-produced Diary of a Hollow Horse album in 1989, the five piece lineup went their separate ways. Five years later, original duo Eddie Lundon and Gary Daly reunited and released this low-key affair, which retained the sophisticated sound of their latter days with the simple, stripped-down production of their early days. Daly remains a unique and intriguing vocalist and songwriter, with Lundon proving to be the perfect straight man to his oddities. The Steely Dan-ish "Hands on the Wheel" is a wonderful Lundon track, but its mid-tempo groove does not make it the perfect album opener (it would fit snug in the track four slot, though).
Ultimate Success Today is Protomartyr's fifth album. Following the release of Relatives In Descent, the band’s critically acclaimed headlong dive into the morass of American life in 2017, Ultimate Success Today continues to further expand the possibilities of what a Protomartyr album can sound like.