This is a review of "The Beaumont Sessions" recorded by The Riverside Happy. The review was written by Gavin Miller in 2004.

Starting like some soppy mid 80s rock ballad, ‘It Hurts’ the first tack on this two track CD from The Riverside Happy, isn’t sounding too good. Then, and thank god, it starts to really rock. Dirty blues riffs and big ol’ drumming always help a song along, and this track has it all in droves. Deep bass and furious guitar leads all run into each other along a backing track of some great scuzzy blues riffs. Now that’s more like it. It’s hard to imagine why they bothered to include that bit at the beginning, seeing as how it sounds nothing like the rest of the song, but I guess that’s actually why they did it; contrast and all.

After that rollicking blues jam finally reaches its end, it’s time for track two. ‘What August Has To Find’ starts like some sort of dodgy Stereophonics- lite gentle strum-a-long. I’m hoping that, like the last song, it starts to kick out the jams, but unfortunately, it doesn’t really. Sure, the tempo picks up a little here and there, and the odd guitar lead sounds kinda cool, but overall, it’s not that brilliant. In fact, imagine some American Christian rock band from Alabama or something, and you’re kinda there.

Their press release mentioned Kings of Leon and “the Jets” as influences, but anyone who knows my particular loathing for the latter will agree with me when I say that thankfully, they sound very little like them. At times gentle, perhaps too gentle, and then at times all dirty and bluesy, The Riverside Happy’s CD is an odd little thing. When they really start to rock, let me know.