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| Tinymixtapes |
 From the age of 6 to 16, Bobby Driscoll was one of the most acclaimed child actors of all time; his roles in a slew of Disney hits earned him the title of Disney’s "Golden Boy." Then he grew up, stopped being cute, and at the age of 31 was dead in an abandoned Manhattan tenement. Legend has it that his body went unidentified, leaving the Academy Award-winning former celebrity to be buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave.Benjy Ferree, himself a failed actor, found inspiration in the story of Driscoll, turning it into a concept for his sophomore album, Come Back To The Five And Dime Bobby Dee Bobby Dee. And, sure enough, the cover features Ferree donning Driscoll’s character, a ’50s coif markered over Ferree’s own hair for the black and white portrait. But aside from the introductory track, "Tired of Being Good," and occasional references to "Peter Pan" (Driscoll’s final role for Disney), Driscoll is hardly an overt presence on the record — and for the better. Instead of harping on his muse, dragging a relatively simple — even if tragic — narrative on for 14 tracks, Ferree makes himself the star. Driscoll hangs more like a specter over the record, his tragedy snaking its tendrils into the songs as Ferree casts characters who, like Driscoll, are failed and fallen....full text |
| Prefixmag |
| The words “concept album” conjure up a wide variety of images for music fans. For every classic like The Wall and Ziggy Stardust, there is an unfortunate prog-rock exploration of The Lord of the Rings or Kilroy Was Here. At its best, the concept album is a long form for artists to explore themes usually too complex for the format of the individual pop song. On the other end of the spectrum, a great majority of them end up as navel-gazing exercises that highlight the limits of a musician’s more than its chosen theme. Come Back to the Five and Dime, Bobby Dee Bobby Dee, the second album by Washington, D.C., singer-songwriter Benjy Ferree, falls somewhere in the middle of this continuum. Ferree is able to relate the story of the tragic fall of Disney icon Bobby Driscoll but fails to create any single statement that transcends his chosen genre. In addition to being the voice of the animated Peter Pan, Driscoll was handed the plum role in Song of the South, Disney’s first live action movie. The ride ended when Driscoll turned 16, developed severe acne and was handed his walking papers by the mouse house. Driscoll went on to have few bit parts on television, hooked up with Andy Warhol’s factory for a time, and then died at thirty-one after a long battle with heroin. Ferree chronicles Driscoll’s slide with caustic wit and an eye for detail that belie his deep involvement with the story. Careful listeners will find bits of Disney lore woven in with Ferree’s lyrics, and the songs will no doubt rekindle interest in the forgotten star....full text |
| Popmatters |
| Come Back to the Five and Dime, Bobby Dee, Bobby Dee, the second full-length from Washington D.C. singer-songwriter Benjy Ferree, is, purportedly, a concept record about the life and times of Bobby Driscoll. Driscoll, as you may know, was an Academy Award-winning child actor who starred in some of Disney’s most popular live-action films in the late 1940s and early 1950s. After serving as the voice and close-up model for Peter Pan in the studio’s 1953 animated classic, Driscoll was dropped by Disney, as he had hit puberty and developed a bad case of acne. Driscoll spent the rest of his life trying fruitlessly to reclaim his place among the Hollywood elite, ultimately falling into a life of drug addiction and crime. He died homeless and penniless in an abandoned Manhattan tenement at the age of 31. On …Bobby Dee, Ferree uses Driscoll’s story as a jumping-off point for his own imagined narratives. The album does not indulge in a chronological retelling of Discoll’s fall from grace; rather, the record’s 14 tracks are peppered with emotions and settings that can be loosely read as relating to Driscoll. To be quite honest, references to the titular “Bobby Dee” are nowhere close to being the most striking aspect of Ferree’s sophomore LP—the real story here is Ferree’s eclectic yet cohesive songwriting. Amazon Lala Hearing opening number “Tired of Being Good”, you’d be forgiven for pegging Ferree as a purveyor of bluesy garage rock. Still, the song gets the album off to a strong start, with plenty of muscular riffs, crashing cymbals and references to “lost boys everywhere”. “Fear”, however, takes an unexpected turn, opening with a few seconds of unaccompanied, Beach Boys-esque harmonizing before Ferree’s soulful vocals and a thick, deliberate bass line kick in. By the time we reach the chorus, it’s clear that the song’s melodic sensibility is deeply rooted in the early rock and roll of Richie Valens and the Big Bopper—a style of songwriting that doesn’t seem to get much play among contemporary artists nowadays....full text |
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