My review of WHITE DOG’s self-titled 2020 debut was, how shall we say, less than kind. I still stand by that impression, but when Double Dog Dare came across my desk, I’ll also confess to being curious at how the band had aged in the little over three years since. With a revamped lineup, including a new vocalist and added – you guessed it – keyboardist, there’s hope, right?

A compact little FOGHAT-styled shuffle leads us into ‘Holy Smokes’, lead runs and vocal harmonies aplenty, the rhythm section keeping things tight but buoyant. Quite frankly, I’m not sure who’s got that higher range, if it’s new vocalist Jake LaTouf, a background singer brought in, or if another member of the now-sextet was hiding this ace up his sleeve on the debut, but already WHITE DOG 2024 is more enjoyable from the start. Maybe it’s time, the comfort of playing together for just under a decade, but ‘Double Dog Dare’ continues the good vibe-bringing. A bit more FREE this time around, out-and-out blues-tinged rock until the chicken’ pickin’ bridge in the latter 1/3rd, that is. ‘Glenn’s Tune’ adds a bit of The Long Run era EAGLES to the mix, a heartfelt tribute to bassist Rex Pape’s late father.

I wasn’t sure about the hokey radio jingle ‘A Message From Our Sponsor’ but if it’s the last track on side one (having not seen the album), it by damn seems to work as a “Hey, time to flip the record over now” interlude; utterly pointless, and humorous for it. ‘Frozen Shadows’ brings the lights down, a slow burn ballad that injects just enough bite to keep the tune from falling into background music territory for its 7+ minutes. I wouldn’t have thought anything like this was possible given White Dog, but time and life have a way of reshaping things, in this case for the better.

‘Lady Of Mars’ weds snappy rhythms to an interesting BLUE ÖYSTER CULT freakout, both lyrically and musically, leading into the closing tag-team of ‘Prelude’ and ‘The Last ‘Dam’ Song’, completing WHITE DOG’s second offering.

I can honestly say that rarely has my perception of a band done such an about-face between albums. The third album will be the tiebreaker for me, as per usual but, for the moment, I’m going to play the ever-lovin’ crap out of Double Dog Dare. I just know it.
Review By: Lord Randall

WHITE DOG
Double Dog Dare
Rise Above