CD Review: Libertad (Sun5)

Libertad
Sun5
Independent
2004
10 tracks

Imagine this if you will. You’re listening to the finest blues-based rock and roll band you’ve heard in a long time. Then the singer starts to sing and his voice evokes the same cool, sweet, enigmatic sound as Blues Traveller’s John Popper. And the female backup singer wails in behind him, powerful and hot like the backup vocals for Bat Out Of Hell. And the music just keeps on rocking. And you are filled with the music. Sun5 is like that.

The music is enigma. This blues-based rock and roll will slide across some invisible line into something like but not quite jazz. It’s a gentle, entrancing moodring-soft sound like the best of Blues Traveller. Then that soft sound will slip past the musical horizon and rise again as clean, driven rock and roll, the lead voice now harder and more gutsy, the music no longer a salve but a salvo, an attack on the senses. Then the sound will shift again.

It’s all good. It’s surprising this New England band isn’t better known across North America and, for that matter, around the world. The closest comparison I can make is with the funky jazz sound of Blues Traveller without John Popper’s harmonica but with fantastic backup vocals by Missy Johnson, but this band really has a sound all its own. Much of the instrumental work of this East Coast band shows strong influences from the best West Coast rock and roll going back to the Sixties.

The final and longest song on this release, “Montecito” presents a comfortable mix of reggae and Tex-Mex rhythms in a rich orchestration with superb vocals and solo instrumental leads. While it would be difficult to choose a favourite from among these ten superb songs, “Montecito” would definitely be high on my list.

While, to varying degrees, most of the songs in this set rock, “Swirl” is more quiet and reflective. The song is still rock and roll, but the mood is more relaxed and at times even melancholy.

The title song, “Libertad” has this same sort of quiet feel but is actually fairly up-tempo, swinging to a jazzy near-Latin beat. This is one of the songs in this set where the vocals of Thomas Kivlan especially remind me of the work of John Popper. Kivlan’s vocals are sweet and seductive, carrying the lyrics to emotional heights they might otherwise never reach.

Formed in Boston in 2002, Sun5 has a wealth of potential it’s never realized outside the regional New England market. That’s a shame. The unique sound created by Thomas Kivlan, Yohei Nakamura, Jason Kenyon, and Tim Paul Weiner compares favourably with the best of today’s bands. They should be reaching a far wider audience than just concert-goers in the Boston area.

Those who may be interested can find additional information about Sun5 at the band’s website, including eight downloadable songs in mp3 format. You can find two songs by Sun5 at My Space.

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CD Review: Summer Dancing (Lenore)

Summer Dancing
Lenore
Elaine Records
2002
13 tracks

When a small bird first falls out of its nest and starts flying, it tends to flutter first this direction and then that, sometimes wavering and then recovering until it learns to fly a straight course. Much more so here than in her first release, Lenore seems the artistic equivalent of that small bird. With every song, Lenore seems to fly off in another artistic direction with varying degrees of success.

Summer Dancing features songs that come close to pure rock and roll, folk [or perhaps folkish is a better word] songs, country sounding songs, theatrical bits that would go over well at the local folk club or in an intimate concert, sweet pop songs, and variations on these. The sense created is definitely of an artist trying to find herself. At this early stage in Lenore’s recording career, there’s no harm in that.

Lenore is good at whatever she does. She has a voice that can be at turns strong and sweet and often combines the two as many singers cannot. Of the multiple personalities who inhabit this release, there are none I couldn’t learn to like. However, I still prefer Lenore when she does rock and roll. In this mode, her guitar playing seems to get stronger and edgier and her vocals seem more free, more relaxed. Given the right backing, Lenore could rock with the best of them. [Speaking of rock and roll, Mark Armstrong plays some mean sax on some of these tracks.]

“Summer Dancing” is an interesting song to start this set. The sound is a sort of ersatz pop-rock reminiscent of the song “Summer Nights” from Grease. One can almost hear Olivia Newton John joining in. Less than real rock and roll, this is show music without a show.

The final song, “Driving” and two other songs bring out Lenore’s rock and roll roots and are possibly the strongest songs on Summer Dancing. Lenore knows how to write lyrics that fit the simple rockbilly format yet also tell a story, and she knows how to belt out the song while her guitar wails. “The Man” and”Temptation” are arguably the best tracks on this CD. These two are certainly the best examples of Lenore at her rocking best. And that wild sax and wailing guitar doesn’t hurt these songs at all.

At the other extreme, “Crowded Sidewalks” is a sweet, sad country song featuring an emotional vocal by Lenore. For some weird reason, “Sunday Morning Coming Down” comes to mind. Perhaps it’s because, without Kristofferson’s darkness, some of the same themes are present.

If you want a bit of humour well-suited to a folkie lounge or house concert, “The Smokin’ Song” may be just the thing for you. This song has a real down home, Forties feel and lots of funny lines. Rather than the Phil Harris classic “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke That Cigarette,” Stuart Hamblen’s “This Old House” comes to mind, suggested I think by the rhythm and structure of the song. “The Smokin’ Song” should certainly resonate with anyone who has tried to quit or has been around a quitting smoker.

On her second CD release, Lenore has maintained the quality of writing and performance she exhibited in her first. The craft is clearly there. On her next effort, Lenore might be wise to narrow her field a bit and focus on the musical style in which she feels most comfortable. With this narrower focus, Lenore could concentrate her efforts at polishing her writing and performance to surpass even what she has so far accomplished.

Those who may be interested can find additional information about Lenore at the Lenore website. You can find three songs by Lenore (including two from this release) at My Space. You can find my review of Lenore’s self-titled debut release at Sound Bytes.

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CD Review: Rock & Roll Recordings Volume 1 (Mike Plume)

Rock & Roll Recordings…Volume 1
Mike Plume
Clann Records Ltd
2004
10 tracks

Simply put, this is great rock and roll. There’s none of the contrived complexity and faux-art of so called Rock [sans roll] music. This is simple hard-driving music with down to earth lyrics and a solid beat. The vocals are emotional and heartfelt. This is rock and roll as it grew out of the grass-roots some fifty years ago.

Listening to Mike Plume brings to mind a whole range of rock and roll artists from Buddy Holly to The Velvet Underground. This is the sort of roots-rock we hear from artists like Springsteen and Mellenkamp, but it reaches further back to the truer, simpler roots of rock and roll. Vocally, Plume reminds me of Bob Seger at his simplest and most direct and, especially, of Tom Petty.

At one level, one might think this is great American music. In fact, the artist is Canadian, one of the latest in a long tradition of hard-hitting Canadian rock and roll artists dating back to the genre’s beginnings in the early Fifties. I have long admired the solid rock and roll that comes out of Quebec, the Maritime Provinces, Vancouver and up the West Coast of B.C., Winnipeg and Calgary. Traditionally, some of the hardest-rocking American hits have come from great Canadian bands.

Transcending the constraints of the always simple rock and roll lyric form, Plume’s lyrics are tight and poetic, telling evocative stories of life and love. Plume’s words raise these songs to another, finer level approaching the work of Buddy Holly, Bob Seger, and Lou Reed. This is rock and roll but it’s also contemporary art created not for the toffs but for the people.

While many of these songs are heavy up-tempo rockers, others are gentle ballads meant to touch the heart. For example, “Dancing on the Wind” is a sweet visual song filled with images and metaphors that evoke larger romantic scenes. The words and images approach the subtle power of Leonard Cohen’s earlier, simpler poetry. The music is supportive but unobrusive. The vocal is emotional and touching.

“Birmingham” starts off the set with a solid, rocking beat reminiscent of the Sixties instrumental hit “Wild Weekend” pumping along at medium tempo. To not dance or at least bop a little is not an option. “One of those Days” picks up the tempo a bit with some vintage rock and roll licks. The party has started.

Instrumentally and vocally, “Ride” especially brings to mind the Tom Petty of “Refugee” vintage. This song has perhaps the most rock and roll lyric structure on this release. Even without the musical background, this lyric would read more like Ferlinghetti than Cohen.

Rock & Roll Recordings…Volume 1 is one CD that I don’t mind hearing repeatedly in order to write a review. It’s worth the time and effort. I do recommend this release to anyone who enjoys good rock and roll and excellent writing. I look forward to hearing volumes 2 through infinity.

Those who may be interested can find additional information about Mike Plume at the Mike Plume Official Website. You can find ten clips of the songs on this release at Clann Records.

CD Review: Campfire (Chuck Cheesman)

Campfire
Chuck Cheesman
Independent
2006
12 tracks

Campfire may be an apt title for this release. That’s the kind of music, lyrics, and performance to be found here. It’s star-quality on a local level. Chuck Cheesman is the type of folk artist who teaches school or lawyers or sells shoes all week long, then performs for the local folk music club around a campfire or at the local folkie bar. His singing, his words, his music all pass muster at that level but are not yet ready to break out of the local market.

Chuck Cheesman’s songs have a comfortable old-timey country music feel about them. They’re well written and he performs them well, but there’s rarely that sense of something special shining through. It’s hard to tell whether Cheeseman has reached the limits of his talents or he just needs a little incentive to break the bonds of conformity. Certainly this release includes a couple of ideas that, more effectively executed, could lift this artist to another level.

There’s a sense in these tales of the academic mind at work. The words and the performance often come across like a Grade Six school teacher presenting lessons in history or geography. They seem stilted and pedantic. Worse, far too many times, they just seem dry and understated. I begin to wonder if it would benefit this writer to read his lyrics out loud before setting them to music or perhaps to hear someone else read them.

Writing a song about wolves from the point of view of the wolf or a song about the suicide of a revered national hero is not just creative but daring. However, these songs simply do not measure up. Retooled and polished, they might just make the mark and exceed it by a mile.

Even more daring, perhaps foolishly so, is to take the fabulous poem “Casey at the Bat” and make a song built around the same story. The result simply doesn’t live up to the original. I’m not sure that I’d even try to polish this one.

“Uphill (American Dream)” is the exception on this CD. What Cheesman calls “a portrait of an illegal immigrant in Chicago” is a subtly written, tastefully performed comment on contemporary America. This is fine storytelling in the tradition of Harry Chapin or Jim Croce. (It probably also helps that this one features just Cheesman’s sweet voice and competent guitar without those irritating bongos that clutter most of the other songs.) Here, at last, Cheesman manages to just tell us the story without sounding like he’s lecturing.

Chuck Cheesman is an artist on a cusp, one of many cusps most artists encounter. There are decisions to be made. Cheesman is good enough now to be a star in his local folk scene and a contender regionally. Can he break out and appeal to a broader audience? That depends on how hard he wants to break out and how much time he wants to spend developing his craft.

Those who may be interested can find additional information about Chuck Cheesman at his website. You can find clips of four songs by Chuck Cheesman at My Space.

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CD Review: Inside My Secret Pocket (Eddie Lawrence)

Inside My Secret Pocket
Eddy Lawrence
Snowplow Records
2004
22 tracks

First and foremost, Eddy Lawrence is a story teller. A skilled musician, Lawrence first lays down a comfortable bed of instrumentation then settles in and tells a series of captivating stories that have both personal and universal appeal. There is a sparcity to his tales that belies the depths to which he reaches into the human spirit. And the songs of Eddy Lawrence also make easy listening simply as music. This is a winning combination.

There’s something about the mood of these songs that always suggests there’s a country boy somewhere at their core, but the sound ranges easily across any number of genres. Travelling through folk, country, jazz, rock, blues, and other territories, these songs manage nonetheless to maintain a consistent sound. This is not a disparate scrapbook of short-stories but single, thematic collection.

The eighth release by this prolific songwriter, Inside My Secret Pocket maintains the consistent high quality for which Eddy Lawrence has become known. Listening to his recordings, it becomes clear that each song is written and recorded with consummate care. Beneath the artistry of Eddy Lawrence lies a lifetime of finely-hewn craft that can’t help but shine through.

Lawrence has described the songs on this release as “the diary of a divorce” and the emotions of this divisive process lend power to stories that would have been powerful and emotive in any event. These are stories that can be understood and felt by any one of us who has been involved in a human relationship or who has loved and lost.

It would be difficult to pick any one of these 22 songs as standing out above the rest. Each has its own merits and each tells its own part of the larger story. The strength of this release is not in one individual song but in their cumulative effect. The quality is consistently high throughout.

If you haven’t already discovered Eddy Lawrence, then this release might be a good place to start. Eddy Lawrence stands in a long tradition of American storytelling. Although he’s one of the finest modern narrators of American life and does have a certain niche audience, Lawrence remains largely unknown. That’s a shame.

Those who may be interested can find additional information about Eddy Lawrence at the Snowplow Records website. You can find my review of the previous Eddy Lawrence release, Going to Water at Sound Bytes.

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CD Review: BluesSmyth (BluesSmyth)

BluesSmyth
BluesSmyth
Arges Records
2006
9 tracks

Notwithstanding graphics, name (including pun), and logo that seem very Nordic suggest the listener should expect a very “metal” sound, BluesSmith leans more toward the kind of hard rocking blues to be heard across Ontario and probably cross North America. This is not so much traditional electric blues as it is the sort of blues-rock epitomized by artists like David Clayton Thomas and a number of Seventies bands out of urban centres like Toronto and Vancouver. It appears the blues revolution has finally hit Canada’s cowtown.

This band has a solid sound. This is good, hard-hitting blues. This is great rock and roll. It’s like hearing your favourite bar band finally get good enough that you don’t need three beers to appreciate them. Intrumentally, these young musicians are right on and Chris Yaholkoski’s rough-hewn vocals place him right up there with some of the best blues rock vocalists of this century. These vocals bring to mind singers like David Clayton Thomas, John Kay, or R. L. Burnside.

I would look forward to hearing these boys play live. In fact, if they ever come to K’Town, I’ll make it a point to come out and to bring my friends. The recording is a whole ‘nuther matter.

The sound quality of this recording is more than a little lacking. It’s thick and muddy and only the power of the music allows it to break through the mud. The sound is like that you get when you’ve left the bar where the band is playing and walked down the hall to the hotel lobby. This band should definitely be looking for a new recording studio, or at least a new producer. This one simply has not done them justice.

The less than perfect quality of this recording is more than made up for by the quality of the musicianship. If you’re interested in what’s up and coming on the Canadian blues scene, it would definitely be worth your while to check out this Calgary trio.

Those who may be interested can find additional information about BluesSmyth at the BluesSmyth website. You can find clips of four songs from this CD at My Space.

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CD Review: Seedling (Jane)

Seedling
Jane
Tomboy Music Group
2004
10 tracks

This is a safe set of music, unlikely to offend anyone but with little to distinguish it from a horde of other releases by female vocalists. Jane sings well and her musical backing is professional and well arranged. There is a sense that she has not yet decided who she wants to be as a singer. Her vocals range from the breathless wispiness of old recordings by Montreal’s The Bells to the rock tinged edge of Sheryl Crow, with a number of stops in between.

Jane quickly establishes her folk roots by starting “Never Thought it was Love” with a bit of countrified guitar and a whole lot of harp but quickly shifts to a more pop-music style for the remainder of the song. This song establishes more than that. Like the rest of the songs on this release, the first song is comfortable enough but the approach and sound is at best inconsistent.

If this were Jane’s debut album and not her second, one might forgive the artist feeling her way a bit and trying out different roles as both songwriter and singer. One can only hope that, as her career grows, Jane will find and slip into an image that fits her comfortably. In the meantime, this release makes a respectable showing, presenting the singer in a positive light and giving the listener a comfortable experience.

This is a very eclectic set featuring a pot pourri of blues, jazz, latin, country, folk, funk, and other stylings, both vocally and instrumentally. What holds it together is the consistent fullness of the sound and the clearly professional quality of the production.

Seedling features some excellent folk and blues harp as well as a smattering of very cool keyboard sounds by Mark Street. These help to raise the CD at least slightly above the bland middle-ground.

It will be interesting to watch this emerging artist as she moves through her career. Will she grow and develop the talent that is clearly present or will she continue to avoid risk and present the sort of safe material found on this CD? Time will tell.

Those who may be interested can find additional information about Jane at the Jane Music website. You can find clips of four songs by Jane at My Space.

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CD Review: The Town’s Old Fair (Josh Lederman y Los Diablos)

The Town’s Old Fair
Josh Lederman y Los Diablos
Nine Mile Records
2003
16 tracks

If a Mulligan Stew of western folk music styles were cooked up, then Josh Lederman y Los Diablos would be right in the thick of it. This is broadly-based, eclectic, sometimes exotic music from America that gathers its sources from the world. The result is an easy listening, sometimes provocative, and often humourous stew of musical styles that never loses its flavour.

Featuring almost a full hour of mostly country music imbued with Irish, European, and Mediterranean spice, this CD is an excellent value even in today’s erratic economy. This is not guy-and-a-guitar material but the big band sound of a brilliant five piece combo plus a supporting cast of exceptional musicians. Although this music shows strong international influences and draws upon many traditions, including Pop and Rock, at root the music tends always to sound very American and more than a little Country. Coming out of cosmopolitan Boston, this band could as easily be from South Texas.

The raw baritone lead vocals are rich and interesting, not the usual reedy singer-songwriter vocals we’ve come to expect on a lot of homegrown folk music recordings. Although this is not quite an accurate comparison, I’m reminded of the early work of the Crash Test Dummies (for example: “Superman’s Song”) with their dry vocals.

The instrumental “Palinka” is very interesting. The first few seconds are reminiscent of a Drifters (Sixties version) opening but with the drums giving the music a lot more drive. Then the song shifts gears and becomes very Middle Eastern, not in the traditional sense so much as in the sense that Dick Dale gave “Misirlou” that cool Middle Eastern ambience. The result is a very exciting and exotic sound.

Ranging through country songs that would make Johnny Cash proud, Skiffle-sounding bits, near-Irish ballads, Euro-Pop stylings and more, yet all the while maintaining a comfortable consistency, The Town’s Old Fair bears and even invites repeated listens, with something new to discover on each play.

Those who may be interested can find additional information about Josh Lederman y Los Diablos at Coffee Stain Music. You can find clips of four songs by Josh Lederman y Los Diablos at My Space.

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How to submit your CD for review

If you want to submit your new CD release for review, here’s the mailing address:

Music Reviews
Roots Music Canada
Unit # 6
710 Division Street
Kingston, Ontario
K7K 6T9
Canada

If mailing from outside Canada, please mark the value on the customs form as ncv (no commercial value) or assign a very low value and list the CD as a sample. If you fail to do these things and the CD arrives with duty owing, I will return it. I cannot afford to pay duty for a project which already leaves me out of pocket.

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Sound Bytes music reviews (1996-2006) has been permanently archived

Welcome to the new home of my music reviews, known between 1996 and 2006 as Sound Bytes. The Sound Bytes music review site has been suspended but will remain online as an archive available to anyone who may wish to read the older reviews. There are more than 250 reviews available to read at Sound Bytes. All future reviews will appear on this new site on an irregular basis.

I suspended Sound Bytes because my process, what I was attempting to do and how I was attempting to do it, had become too wearing on my time and energy. Because of this, and so that I may give some exposure to as many independent artists as possible, I will be working to new rules in the hope of simplifying the process. I want to make this new site more user-friendly for everyone concerned: the artists, the readers, and me.

Here’s a few guidelines:

• If you want to send a CD, just send it. While I do appreciate the thought, you don’t have to ask permission.
• Do not send a CDR or any CD with a paper label.
• You don’t have to send your fancy, and expensive, press kit. I’m reviewing the music, not the image.
• I will no longer be notifying artists when a review is posted. I think it’s a good idea to notify you, but it just took up too much of my time. Just check the site once in a while to see if a review is posted.
• To be fair to those who had sent material to Sound Bytes but never been reviewed, I’ll continue to listen to the backlog.
• I’ll also listen to new material submitted.
• Selection will not be sequential but random.

Eventually, I hope that everything submitted will be reviewed.

As always, the scope of this reviews site is quite broad, encompassing folk music, roots music, and roots-related music. This includes any and all music which at some level derives from our musical roots, especially blues, jazz, rock and roll, spoken word, and some classical or popular music genres.

If you want to submit your new CD release for review, here’s the address:

Music Reviews
Roots Music Canada
Unit # 6
710 Division Street
Kingston, Ontario
K7K 6T9
Canada

If mailing from outside Canada, please mark the value on the customs form as ncv (no commercial value) or assign a very low value and list the CD as a sample. If you fail to do these things and the CD arrives with duty owing, I will return it. I cannot afford to pay duty for a project which already leaves me out of pocket.

I hope that you’ll enjoy this new music reviews site and will check it on a regular basis.

Peace & Love.

Bob MacKenzie

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