Tijuana Dreams, the follow-up to the Small Stars' 2005 dramatically staged self-titled debut, finds the band plying its in-joke with renewed earnestness. Styled as a Reno, NV, band forced by age and hard luck into lounge gig oblivion (replete with powder blue suits and addictions to match) the Small Stars are actually former members of some once high-flying bands. Lead singer Guy Fantasy's voice might sound a lot like the guy from Fastball and the dude on drums sure looks a lot like the one who used to sit behind Edie Brickell. Musically, the band kicks out what's seemingly a catchy, Tex-Mex celebration of semi-debauchery and good times. The masterfully paced "Twenty-One" manages to tell a life story in six and a half hands of blackjack as saxophones and guitars lay down a smooth bossa nova, but taking these costumed troubadours at face value is missing the point entirely. From the cold water reality of "Day Job" ("Who'd a thought it'd come to this?/I had to buy someone else's piss to get the Day Job") to the small solace of "That's What God Made Whiskey For" (proudly guest-sung by Joe Ely) it's easy to tell that there's something else going on here. After all, the biggest band in Reno can't always fill up a room in Las Vegas and a handful of musicians with greatest hits albums behind them don’t necessarily have some in front of them too. It's at that tipping point where the charade wavers between a bit and self-inflicted satire (whether they're aware of it or not) that the Small Stars really shine.
~ Sander Wolf
