Category Archives: Album Reviews

Album Review: Vinnie Moore – Double Exposure

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Vinnie Moore

photo by Gretchen Johnson; photo courtesy of Glass Onyon PR

Album Review of Vinnie Moore: Double Exposure

Renowned progressive rock shredder Vinnie Moore recently released Double Exposure, which I learned (thanks to the press material) is his first solo album to include vocals. The 12-track album begins with six songs with vocals followed by six instrumental cuts. The vocalists on the first half of the disc include Ed Terry (Rage And Beyond, American Mafia), Keith Slack (MSG, Mother Road), Mike DiMeo (Riot) and Brian Stephenson (Old James). Of course, Vinnie surrounds himself with top-shelf musicians as well, including Richie Monica (Billy Cox, Popa Chubby, Tantric) on drums, Michael Bean and Pete Griffin (Steve Vai, Dweezil Zappa) on bass, John Cassidy on keyboards, and John Pessoni on drums.

One of the cool things about Vinnie is that he’s not just a progressive fret-jockey. You can catch elements of classic rock, blues, and a little funky rhythm in his axework, which is one reason his music is likely to be a fun listen for guitar rock fans whose tastes extend throughout guitar-driven rock ‘n roll, well beyond the boundaries of prog.

Double Exposure opens with some exceedingly tuneful shredding from Moore, opening the funky-bluesy “Vertical Horizon.” Vinnie works a lot of deftly-maneuvered guitar runs and nifty riffs into this song… and, of course, throughout the rest of the disc.

Vinnie Moore – Double Exposure

image courtesy of Glass Onyon PR

Songs two (“Rise”) and four (“Paid My Dues”) are axe-powered, hard-driving rock ‘n roll numbers that you’ll love for their power and, of course, their ample opportunity to showcase Vinnie’s shredding.

Sandwiched between those two, “Still Waters Run Deep” has very Boston-like harmonies and chorus climaxes, while Vinnie’s guitar parts are a little more understated, and in the bridge I might even refer to the guitarwork as “noodling.” It’s a cool, slight change of pace, though of course the song has its shredding gutiar solo moments, too.

“River Flow” is a hard rock ballad that flows through the verses and the chorus and, of course, has that long guitar solo in a mid/late-song bridge, something that’s a staple of any decent power ballad. It compares closely to a Mr. Big ballad, particularly the vocals, in which Ed Terry seems to be channeling Eric Martin.

Finally, “Hummingbird” is a mainstream, crossover-capable rock song supported by a more modestly-implemented guitar line. Though Keith Slack’s vocals are of the big-time progressive rock soaring variety, in some of the softer spots and with some very specific phrasing, his voice also reminds me of country artist Jay Taylor, who I reviewed in the Blog a few years ago. I can’t decide if the song is structured more like Southern rock or laid-back California rock. And with all of those disparate comparisons in mind, it’s almost certainly the non-pigeonholeableness of “Hummingbird” that attracts me to this, my favorite song on the album. The broad range of surface-level influences could expand this song’s fan base beyond that of the rest of the disc; plus it’s just a way-catchy, fun, kinda laid-back, rockin’ tune.

Following “Hummingbird,” the back side of the disc is all-instrumental.

Kicking off the instrumentals, “Astro Man” and “Breaking Through” are funky, a little bluesy, and lean progressive. “In Too Deep” has a more straight-ahead, classic rock rhythm, though it’s still chock-full of Vinnie’s nimble guitar runs. “Rocket,” which follows, brings back a little of the funk, steering it toward more of a sidewinding hard rock vibe.

Penultimate track “One Day” is my favorite of the instrumental numbers. It seems to play more in the open spaces, sporting a guitar tone and tempo akin to “River Flow.”

“Southern Highway” closes the disc, and while I may be influenced by the song’s title, that’s exactly what it sounds like, a laid-back traveling song along a pleasant highway journey. A journey filled with Vinnie Moore’s dazzlingly tuneful guitarwork, obvs.

If you enjoy guitar-driven rock featuring intricate axework that spans – or, more aptly, dances along – the classic-progressive rock divide, then you probably already know Vinnie Moore. But if you don’t – or if you didn’t know about this release – then you should give this album a listen.

Looking Ahead

Vinnie is currently on a European tour that runs through October 7th. Check out the “tour” page of Vinnie’s website for dates and locations of his upcoming shows.

EP Review: Axminster – Tightrope

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Axminster

photo courtesy of Axminster

The Backstory

Back in the early ’90s, when I was getting my start as a music journalist in Boston, Steve Sera was the frontman for the band Wildside, one of the best melodic hard rock bands in Boston at the time. I covered a few Wildside shows and reviewed the band’s EP Sheet Music. Before Wildside, Steve was in the band Axminster. Well, in the decades since I write about Wildside, Axminster reformed. Axminster’s lineup consists of Benny Fiorentino (guitar, vocals), Steve Sera (vocals, guitar), Danny Callan (bass, vocals), and Xanon Xicay (drums); the band devotes a page of its website to a tribute to its late drummer Mike “Maddog” Lamm.

EP Review of Axminster: Tightrope

What you’ll hear on Axminster‘s Tightrope EP is classic hard rock, delivered with enthusiasm, fully embracing the playful bluesy rock influence that has underpinned the sounds and styles of many of the best melodic hard rock bands for decades.

Axminster – Tightrope

image courtesy of Axminster

Like so many classic hard rock albums, Tightrope kicks off with a show of power on “Broken Nails.” Going all-in on intensity, Axminster establishes its hard rock street cred with this opening track. The song surges mostly straight-ahead but features a little sidewinding axework, offering a glimpse into the band’s more expansive capabilities, in a way foreshadowing the breadth of influences yet to come on Tightrope.

The second track, “Down to the Bone,” is my personal favorite. It leans into its funky rhythm early on, drives continually toward its catchy, memorable, raucously singalongable chorus, and closes with a repetitive push toward close that’ll have you singing the echo of the “cuts right” lyric. You know, in my early days on the Boston hard rock beat, this city was known for its funky metal – well, one local band, in particular. Axminster may be channeling some of that vibe here on this song but wisely resists going full-on Extreme. The result is a catchy original that’s undeniably stylistically Axminster.

“Kids These Days” follows, driving home Axminster’s musical philosophy that straight-ahead rock doesn’t need to steer itself in a straight line. Better yet, there’s some variance to draw the listener in, a chance to show off vocal skills, and room for some well-placed guitar runs. It’s as if this song is a rock ‘n roll master class from some knowledgeable veterans sharing their tricks with the kids these days.

“Tightrope” is a guitar-driven rock number whose axework could be better described as playful than shredding, with Fiorentino’s guitarwork meshing with Sera’s vocal phrasing to provide a lighter vibe to an otherwise heavy rocking song.

“Put Ya Money” has a vocal line that surges and ebbs with the beat that, like so much of this EP, leaves room for some impressive guitarwork, particularly late in the song.

Finally, “Trippin'” comes out aggressively. And, though I’ve tried to avoid making the comparison, this song forces me to succumb. Indeed, particularly on the back half of this EP and most of all on this song, the songwriting, thumping rhythms, and vocal delivery remind me quite a bit of classic Y&T. Sera seems to channel Dave Meniketti during “Trippin'” more than he does anywhere else on this EP, and it results in a frenetically entertaining EP-ending number – quite clearly my second-favorite song in this collection.

More Recently

Axminster was nominated (and is a finalist) for the New England Music Awards in the “Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Act of the Year” category. Voting for the New England Music Awards runs through October 1st.

Looking Ahead

Per this Facebook post, Axminster is teasing a new EP, Bada Boom!, “coming soon.” I can’t wait!

 

 

Album Review: Zach Phillips – Goddaughters

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Zach Phillips

photo courtesy of Zach Phillips

Album Review of Zach Phillips: Goddaughters

A couple years ago, I reviewed Zach Phillips’ The Wine of Youth. Well, the soft rock singer-songwriter is back with his latest release, Goddaughters.

I really like Zach Phillips‘ sound. It’s a breath of fresh air. Well-crafted songs with a familiar but entirely original sound, typically with a lot more rock ‘n roll infused into the music than seems apparent ay first glance. It’s always (by “always,” I mean “twice so far”) a pleasure to review one of his albums; it’s fun to peel the onions that are his songs.

On Goddaughters, Zach kicks things off with a wall-of-sound instrumental opener, “Cassiopeia,” quickly establishing his rock ‘n roll street cred, something a song-driven rock artist needs to do from time to time, lest his listeners confuse him with a singer-songwriter of the folkier variety.

The introductory instrumental flows into an energetic, richly instrumented mid-tempo ditty, “Worshipers,” that settles neatly within Zach high-ish vocal range.

Zach Phillips – Goddaughters

image courtesy of Zach Phillips

With Zach’s rockin’ roots clearly established, the third track, “New Star,” is ethereal, though it’s really more soft psychedelic rock than anything else.

“Harmony Grove” follows, opening with distorted axework, leading to a catchy whitebread-funky rhythm and an almost country-rootsy vibe. The result of this really cool amalgam is a catchy seventies rock-styled number.

“Psychics” carries a similar vibe but with more organ and – eventually, after a long lead-in – its very own faster tempo. How do I describe this sound, found in spades on “Psychics,” but also here and there throughout Goddaughters? Acid rock on valium, but not quite that mellow, I suppose.

The song “Goddaughters” rides in on an organ, but the opening vocals are supported just as much by the acoustic guitar-picking. As with the rest of the disc, Zach’s rich vocals, which require the sort of full production treatment they receive, carry the day. Well, that and the songwriting. Lyrically, Zach’s ode to goddaughters is tentpoled by the line “Goddaughters don’t ask for anything but get everything.” Well-selected to serve as the album’s title track, it’s one that’ll stick with you.

Next up, “Curses” is a song with a rhythmic engine that gets things moving again. After swaying your way through it, with its hooky rhythm guitar and the predictably recurring appearance of a heavier background riff carrying you along, you’ll find yourself stopping and saying to yourself, “Wait, that song was called ‘Curses.’ Why did its tempo make me smile?”

The quality of the songs remains high throughout the rest of the disc, though I’m at risk of reusing too many adjectives and descriptive phrases if I review each in depth, so I’ll zip through them: “The Hour When I First Believed” is driven by a steady rhythm and Zach’s soaring vocals; “Courtesy of a True God” is a crunchier number with a steady, plodding tempo, a Tom Petty guitar sound and song structure, and a mid-’80s Talking Heads vibe; “The Big Mountain” blends a soaring, expansive sound with a playful, minimalist guitar riff that’s one of the most memorable on the album; and “Ocean of Song” opens briefly, if you listen closely (and only if you really want to hear it), with an acoustically strummed Judas Priest “Living After Midnight” riff that recurs with the chorus. You may not hear that riff the way I do, but you’ll definitely appreciate the energy of the instruments and the hint of an edge in Zach’s voice in a couple spots during “Ocean of Song.” It’s a powerful penultimate track, building toward the end almost right up to the closing fade.

Zach closes the disc by completing the circle, with the instrumental “Cassiopeia in the Stars” harkening back to the opening track.

As a whole, the album is pleasant, energetic, and joyful. It’s a great mood-lifting disc. It’s not too loud, but it’s a rock ‘n roll record – or roots rock, if you prefer, since that’s where Zach is typically categorized. A great voice. Well-written songs. Terrific arrangements and recordings. And several songs capable of being memorable takeaways, specifically depending on each listener’s personal preference. My two personal favorites are “Harmony Grove” and “Curses,” though others, like “Goddaughters,” “Worshipers,” and “The Big Mountain” leave me with just as big an impact in the moment, particularly in the context of a full album listen. I’d be curious to hear which songs are other listeners’ personal standouts because I’m sure they’ll differ from mine.

Additionally

There’s a little bit (but not a lot) of extra info about Zach at his website. You can also follow Zach on Instagram or Threads.

Album Review: Ghosts of Sunset – No Saints in the City

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Ghosts of Sunset

photo courtesy of Head First Entertainment

Album Review of Ghosts of Sunset: No Saints in the City

Melodic hard rock with fast-paced guitars, high-pitched sidewinding vocals, and a hard-pounding rhythm section. Ghosts of Sunset are a feel-good rock ‘n roll band whose comfortably familiar but uniquely original sound would be equally well-suited to a dive bar or an arena stage.

Song-by-song, here’s what you’ll find on this cohesive-yet-diverse album, No Saints in the City.

The record kicks immediately into overdrive, opening with “Tonight,” the kind of gettin’-pumped-up-for-a-night-out anthem that’s a great table-setter for any hard rock album.

Ghosts of Sunset – No Saints in the City

image courtesy of Head First Entertainment

Next up is my personal favorite song in the collection, the title track “No Saints in the City.” The guitar hook reminds me of Sleeze Beez’s “Stranger Than Paradise” (an underrated rocker from melodic hard rock’s heyday), but that’s where that comparison ends. The steady beat, the slow builds toward the chorus… this is a total crank-it-up rock song!

“Look Me Up” keeps the energy high as the band’s lyrical content remains focused on the untrustworthy, dirty city streets, driving the song with some recurring hooks and energetic late-song axework.

Next, Ghosts of Sunset slows things down with “If You’re Not Coming Back” because what good is rock album without a ballad? Of course, you can count on this band not to serve up any old standard heartbreak ballad. This one’s dark and gritty.

A faster tempo returns briefly with “Queen of Used to Be” before the band slows things back down with the Skid Row-reminiscent ballad “Love Ain’t Enough.”

Ghosts of Sunset

photo courtesy of Head First Entertainment

“Bastard of the Bowery” brings a new vibe – a stripped-down, funky rawness – to the mix.

“Puzzled Heart” follows, with a modern spin on the classic psychedelic sixties/seventies rock sound.

Softer, more lightly instrumented, melodic “Tonight You’re Okay” stands out for its airier touch. It’s a tuneful track that’ll become a quick favorite, easily justifying its inclusion among its heavier album-mates.

“Us Against Them” is a chunky rocker that returns to a seedier storyline before the album closes with the heavy, gravelly-vocalled ballad “Something to Believe.”

You’ll feel the power of the songwriting on No Saints in the City perhaps even more than you’ll feel the power of its rhythm section. Ghosts of Sunset is definitely a band you need to check out – a unique voice even in a crowded classic-based melodic hard rock market – and No Saints in the City is an album you owe it to yourself to test-drive.

Liner Notes

Ghosts of Sunset are John Merchant (ex-Dutch Henry frontman) and multi-instrumentalist Todd Long (ex-The Verve Pipe). However, for the lead guitar parts on most of the songs on No Saints in the City, the duo tabbed a parade of top rock ‘n roll axemen. Guest guitarists include Scotty Griffin (Riley’s LA Guns) on “Tonight,” Alex Kane (Life Sex & Death and Enuff Z’Nuff) on “No Saints in the City,” Eric Jayk (Wildstreet) on “Look Me Up,” Mark Tremalgia (Little Caesar) on “If You’re Not Coming Back” and “Something to Believe,” Denny Smith (The Great Affairs) on “Queen of Used to Be,” Lou Musa (The Verve Pipe) on “Love Ain’t Enough,” Mark Knight (ex-Bang Tango) on “Bastards of the Bowery,” James Stevenson (Gene Loves Jezebel) on “Puzzled Heart,” and Loren Molinare (Little Caesar) on “Us Against Them.” Merchant provided all of the axework on “Tonight You’re Okay” himself; so hey, that means one of my favorites on the disc was sans guest shredder.

More Recently

Since the release of No Saints in the City, Ghosts of Sunset released another album, Breathe, in March of this year. The band also has a YouTube video for  “Afterthought,” one of the songs from Breathe.

Album Review: Samantha Preis – Through Fog

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Samantha Preis

photo courtesy of Samantha Preis

Album Review of Samantha Preis: Through Fog

If you’re a longtime reader of the Blog, you know how much I love Samantha Preis’ prior full-length release, Good News. That was a mostly piano-based release that featured Samantha’s skills as a jazz vocalist. Those same rich, crisp vocals with their penchant for well-placed thin wispiness are back, but on Through Fog, they’re accompanied by acoustic guitar, serving up a different musical palette.

The quality and attention to detail on Through Fog, guided by Samantha Preis‘ steady, precise vocals, provide a quality listening experience beginning to end. The songs are pleasant to listen to, but they’re subtle and complex, and it takes a few listens for favorites to emerge.

Album Cover: Samantha Preis – Through Fog

image courtesy of Samantha Preis

Throughout the disc, listeners are treated to Samantha’s deeply emotional vocals, with pacing, vocal emphasis, and cadence delivering an enthralling, deeply moving listening experience, with the guitar picking and strumming serving as melancholy accompaniment. Much of the content, lyrically, is quite heavy, though I’ve not gone into great detail in the review; I’ll leave that for you to experience during your first listen.

The music and singing are enthralling, making Through Fog a satisfying beginning-to-end listen. And favorites develop, especially after multiple listens.

Opener “The Gun and the Gold” is one such song, a developing favorite, with Samantha’s “wo-oah, wo-oah, wo-oah” providing engaging vocal bridges.

Next up, “Romance,” deftly utilizes that old jazz vocalist’s trick of changing tempo with almost every word, placing emphasis where it deserves, blurring the line between speaking and singing very tunefully. Notice – and you won’t be able to avoid noticing – the pattern of the “making eyes” section of the song.

“Mexico Sun,” which follows, is mostly soft and meandering, lyrically deep and thoughtful, with a well-placed musical storminess in a couple of spots as both the guitar and vocals intensify before trailing off again, providing an emotional journey that seems to let off musically right where it started. Stylistically, “Men I Don’t Recognize” kind of does the same thing, though with a very different vibe, darker and quite a bit more haunting.

“Crow” is a bit thicker instrumentally and more vocally insistent and varied than the norm on Through Fog, with strings providing well-placed emphasis, as this song extends the dark, heavy nature of this portion of the album. In the context of this musically low-key song collection, this is what passes for cranking up the volume.

On “Spaceship,” Samantha goes a bit more singer-songwritery than usual, with verbal picture-painting, thoughtful musings, and some cool, almost seventies-ish “oo-ooh” vocalizations. Where much of the rest of the disc might be introspective, somewhat experimental vocal jazz, this is clearly meant for a quiet room full of people, almost to the point that you expect to a few random claps from listening room patrons who simply can’t help themselves as the song comes to a close.

“Decorate Ourselves” has a little richer music bed, with the vocals taking a bit more of a starring role, staccato at times, playing the role of percussion at those times in particular.

“The Goodnight Song” rises and falls like the waves, guided by rhythmic strumming and vocal peaks and valley, suggesting a new, very mellow take on a drinking song, featuring – and closing with – “and we’ll meet further on down the road.”

Piano makes its appearance as the featured – and only – instrument on final track “Fleur de Lisa,” a melancholy, purely instrumental epilogue to an album that’s surprisingly emotional and powerful for such a quiet, calm collection of songs.

My three personal favorites on this disc – if I were to listen to them individually – are probably “The Gun and the Gold,” “Romance,” and “Spaceship.” However, I’d recommend taking in the entire album in one sitting. Samantha Preis has a powerful journey for you on Through Fog. It would be a shame miss any parts of the experience.

Looking Ahead

Samantha doesn’t have any upcoming shows scheduled at the moment, but when she does, you’ll find them here on the “tour” page of her website. You can also be a part of Samantha’s musical journey by becoming a member (shouldn’t it be “patron”?) at her Patreon page.

Album Review: Dirtbag Republic – Tear Down Your Idols

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Dirtbag Republic

photo by Matt Leaf; photo courtesy of Head First Entertainment

Album Review of Dirtbag Republic: Tear Down Your Idols

Dirtbag Republic‘s vocals are raw but its instrumentation is full and rich, giving the band’s catchy, memorable, (sometimes) singalongable, energetically straight-forward hard rock just a hint of a punk edge. Add fun, unapologetic lyrics, classic rock guitar runs, and an in-your-face delivery to the mix, and you’ll discover a new favorite band. My first inclination was to compare Dirtbag Republic with the London Quireboys and Dogs D’Amour, but no, if you dig a little deeper, this is a top-shelf, talent-heavy Sunset Strip-caliber hard rock outfit with its own inimitable style. This band checks so many boxes – with plenty of bonus “style points” – that I can only categorize its potential fans base as “fans of guitar-driven rock ‘n roll.” And, I might add, why are you not already listening to these guys?!

There’s so much to write about this album, I’ll do a song-by-song, as-I-listen review.

The disc opens with a guitar riff that screams “rock and roll!” as “Main Objective” kicks of with a frenetic-paced journey through Dirtbag Republic’s original sound, sporting classic rock guitar riffs, rough-as-broken-glass vocals, a vocal line that stylistically moves around the pocket, rarely landing directly on the beat, a couple Enuff Z’Nuff-ish distorted harmonies, the anthemic lyrics “as long as I am still alive, rock and roll will never die,” and a guitar line that simply does not stop, slow down, or break to take a single breath.

Dirtbag Republic – Tear Down Your Idols

image courtesy of Head First Entertainment

Whew, when that song’s over, you want a break? Ha! You wish! The tempo doesn’t slow a bit on “Skinny.” There is just the slightest hint of space in the not-quite-so-wall-of-sound sound bed, but man, the lyrics are biting, culminating in the oh-yes-you-will-sing-along chorus “She’s too skinny, look a little closer. She’s too skinny, anorexia nervosa.”

So, yes, two songs in, and you’ll be hooked. You’ll know this is one of your new favorite bands. As a reward, you get a little break from a tempo that is now a little less way-too-fast. But the songs are still as rockin’, and the lyrics and delivery just as much fun. “Wannabes,” for example, is next, and it’s all about… well, being a rocker.

On “Days Are Gone,” about wasted teenage years, you’ll find yourself singing along with the chorus “long gone, those days are gone.” See, I told you there’d be lots of singing along.

“Don’t Answer to No One” is another would-be hit single (if you could find hard rock on the radio). It’s yet another Dirtbag Republic song with a monster hook and a singalong chorus. Do you detect a pattern? Yeah, but it’s a catchy-as-hell, fun, rockin’ pattern. And there’s a moderately-nuanced distorted guitar bridge just past the midway point that you should listen for – it’s one of those guitar parts that, if it’s done properly (and this one is) lets you know “there are no new lyrics, but that’s OK because you’ll enjoy our musical arrangement as we repeat lines from the chorus a few more times until the end of the song.”

What’s next? Oh, yeah, it’s the title track “Tear Down Your Idols.” It’s another rollicking, hooky, memorable song you’ll find yourself singing along to during and long after listening to the album. Gotta say, though, based on the lyrics, it sounds like maybe your idols have kinda turned into money-grubbing losers who deserve to be torn down, or at least knocked down a peg or two.

When you listen to how the band sings “Sorry,” you almost can’t tell they’re Canadian… except that they have a song called “Sorry,” which is the most stereotypically Canadian song title of all time. It is also, though, a rhythm section-driven, hard rockin’ number you’ll dig. Next up, “Did All I Could” utilizes somewhat sidewinding guitarwork and more finesse-driven drumming to provide a cool new vibe without sacrificing tempo.

The next song, “Superficial” is another standout. I’m not sure if it’s the music that’s so catchy or if it’s just fun to sing along with the word combination of “superficial unconditional.” Regardless, I’m starting to wonder if I’ll run out of fingers counting how many of the songs on this 11-track disc are memorable, though I think maybe I counted the first two songs twice, so that contributes to the digit scarcity.

Penultimate song “When I Was Young” opens with a bit of a raw, Green Day-ish vibe before developing into a straight-forward, driving guitar rocking number, reaching a tempo and pace that continues through the end of the album on disc-ender “Turn Back Fast.”

Whew! What a disc. If you like rock ‘n roll but don’t like Dirtbag Republic’s Tear Down Your Idols, then you don’t like rock ‘n roll.

Looking Ahead

According to this Instagram post, Dirtbag Republic is mixing its new album, slated for a 2024 release. I can’t wait!

EP Review: Ian Jones – The Evergreens

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EP Review of Ian Jones: The Evergreens

Ian Jones‘ emotionally expressive, mostly-crisp, broad-ranging voice is the heart of his Americana style, one that’s earnest and heartfelt, while being light and hopeful.

The Evergreens is a disc with a cohesive song collection that provides a great beginning-to-end listen while still producing a couple of potential crossover hit singles.

The EP-opening title track, “Evergreens,” is a softly pleasant place-setter that paints a vivid picture of a landscape of, well, evergreens.

Things turn quickly to a slightly darker tone on “Born Again Sinner,” a lyrically introspective yet outwardly hopeful song that’s augmented with one of those haunting guitar lines that I way-too-frequently compare to Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game.” This one’s not full-on “Wicked Game,” but it’s in the same zip code. Regardless, this is one of the songs you’ll remember long after your most recent spin of the disc, and it’s one of Ian’s songs with the potential to appeal to fans well beyond the Americana singer-songwriter genre.

Next up, “Liars, Criminals, Beggars, and Thieves” is a very folky storytelling-style song, one that’ll be a quick favorite of folky singer-songwriter fans. I would expect it to be an oft-requested number for Ian, particularly from his most ardent fans.

“Hallelujah” is an uplifting, hopeful track with a lilting guitar line that supports Ian’s earnest vocals, while “Promised Land” is a reminiscent love song with well-crafted lyrics (“The road’s long but it always feels right, like it does when you’re holding me tight”) and a twangy, dancehall-flavored production style.

Finally, the EP ends with the rollickingly memorable, energetically uptempo country ditty “Last Call.” A mainstream country audience would really dig this fun number. At the very least, I’d expect some country bars to use it as a night-ending, “I don’t care where you go, but you can’t stay here” kind of closing-the-bar number.

The two songs on this EP that stay with me for days are “Born Again Sinner” and “Last Call,” though a couple of the other songs rival them as favorites while I’m listening to the record. It’s only 6 songs long, but The Evergreens is an exceptionally solid, must-hear collection.

More Recently

Since the release of The Evergreens in October 2021, Ian has released a full-length album. Results Not Typical dropped in April 2023.

Looking Ahead

Check the “Tour” page of Ian’s website for upcoming live performances. He currently has three gigs listed for later this week: tomorrow (Thursday), September 7th at the Madison Avenue Pub in Everett, WA; Friday, September 8th at Whistlin’ Jack’s in Naches, WA; and Saturday, September 9th at Slim’s in Seattle, WA.

Album Review: Kristian Montgomery & the Winterkill Band – A Heaven for Heretics

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Kristian Montgomery & the Winterkill Band – A Heaven for Heretics

image courtesy of Kristian Montgomery & the Winterkill Band

Album Review of Kristian Montgomery & the Winterkill Band: A Heaven for Heretics

How this album didn’t rake in a bucketload of local and regional music awards – or even some major nominations – I’ll never know. Granted, Kristian Montgomery & the Winterkill Band release new albums so quickly it’s hard to keep up, but still, this is another gem from one of the most dependably consistent, best recording artists in New England. And Kristian and band are prolific artists, at that, constantly cranking out incredible new sounds.

Kristian’s musical style is bluesy roots rock with sneakily nuanced songwriting, hooks (both conventional and unconventional), a subtly country-rock flavor, and a punk rock attitude. If I had to categorize A Heaven for Heretics in just a few words, I’d call it rockin’ swamp-blues boogie. There’s this eerie, otherworldly production value that makes me picture a rock band on an outcropping of land in the middle of a bayou, with moss hanging creepily over the twisted limbs of the surrounding trees. And if you listen to this disc, don’t you dare tell me you can’t picture that image, too.

“I’ll Break Your Heart Again” opens the album with an off-kilter twang, with a heavy beat, a seemingly storytelling dancing guitar line, and well-placed pauses that raise the tension as the song embodies the emotion of slow-paced, inevitable frustration. It’s followed by “Come Carry Weight With Me,” a song with a slightly melancholy but mostly resigned rhythmic to-and-fro that’s nearly as hypnotic as its oft-repeated earworm guitar riff.

The mood picks up quickly with the energetic rockabilly beat of “Times Like These” that, before you know it, will result in an unavoidable fit of air drumming. “Here’s to the Men Who Have It All and Still Want More” is a swampy dirge with surprisingly subtle guitar elements that are almost progressive in nature, though they’re easy to miss if you’re not listening with headphones on. With or without that extra-cool detail, though, the song is deep and blue.

“Ain’t Got Nobody But Me” continues the album’s mood but with more playful vocal and guitar stylings and some deep, sometimes clever lyrics.

“The Year the Bottom Fell Out” is a rawly heartfelt, wailing, slow blues-rock number that’s delivered as a first-person autobiography, one of those songs in which the lyrics speak volumes yet still the sadly expressive guitar sings as impactfully as the voice.

“Family Owned” is a raucously hillbilly mid-tempo roots-rocker that’ll beat you into submission with the incessant momentum of its rhythmic beat. It’s followed by “Secret Watering Hole,” a mellower, jangly-rockin’ song that doubles down on that whole swampy blues sound.

“If I Live to See Virginia” opens with a bit of jazzy blues flavor, sporting a more playfully non-linear drumline, bluesy rock vocals, and buzzy guitar. It’s a cool, moderately different sound than the rest of the disc, though it’s still a cohesive part of the same musical collection. With some syncopation and experimentation, this song is a reminder of the breadth of musical talent Kristian and band have, a hint that their musical repertoire could expand significantly, if necessary, just to keep things interesting.

The disc closes with what’s recently been my favorite song on this disc, the energetic, blues-rockin’, playful “Peach.” No, it’s not a song about a fruit, and yeah, it’s a lot of fun!

Honestly, I am never disappointed by Kristian Montgomery & the Winterkill Band. If Kristian and his band aren’t on your radar, you need new radar.

Since This Release

A Heaven for Heretics, which dropped in January 2022, isn’t the most recent album from Kristian Montgomery & the Winterkill Band. The band’s new album is Lower County Outlaw. Watch for that album to be reviewed in the blog, too – probably by Blog contributor Eric Harabadian. But there’s no way the Geoff Wilbur’s Music Blog virtual, metaphorical writer’s room was going to skip forward to a Lower County Outlaw review before first voicing a “must-hear” declaration for A Heaven for Heretics.

Looking Ahead

I see no upcoming shows listed on the “Events” tab of the band’s Facebook page, but keep an eye out there for future live performances.

EP Review: Hadley Kennary – Crooked Roots

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Hadley Kennary

photo by Jason Lee Denton; photo courtesy of Skye Media

EP Review of Hadley Kennary – Crooked Roots

Show your best and leave ’em wanting more. Sometimes, an EP is a wise move, an ability to present your best, without a weak link. Now, I’m not suggesting that Hadley Kennary doesn’t have ten top-shelf songs that’d leave me just as excited about a full-length album – because I’ve only heard her EP – but I can tell you there’s no sign of weakness among the five tracks on Crooked Roots. The overarching style is pop, from a folky singer-songwriter starting point but with a broader, more mainstream reach.

Hadley Kennary – Crooked Roots

image courtesy of Skye Media

Hadley kicks things off with what could easily be a hit single, “Orbit.” The somewhat stripped-down (though still musically rich) production makes the song a pleasant, moderately energetic listen and plants a seed that’ll have you singing along days later, days after you last even played the record. Catchy, rhythmic, with great pop sensibility. If you listen carefully, you can hear how, with different instrumentation, it could be a Taylor Swift-like pop-country hit with a tweak to the presentation or a more Katy Perry dance-pop hit a lusher music bed and more energetically pop delivery. Instead, the delivery is purely Hadley Kennary, heartfelt and thoughtful, though with perhaps the most pop sensibility of the songs on this EP. Certainly the most immediately catchy, as if you must have heard the song before, but you know it’s just your first listen.

“Crooked Roots” is slower, a little sonically darker, and exceptionally introspective, with a lyrical trend toward hopefulness. It’ll grow on you more slowly but just as deeply as the attention-grabbing disc-opener.

“Possession of Pain” is a poppier song with a lighter presentation, hinting at a danceable beat, though not exactly the right beat to be obvious to dance to, if you know what I mean. (In other words, great for the radio or an at-home/in-car listening sesh; no obvious way to move to it on a dancefloor.) For a song with this dance-ish energy, though, there’s an unusually insistent vocal line, stylistically a bit like P!nk, but with a softer touch.

Hadley Kennary

photo by Jason Lee Denton; photo courtesy of Skye Media

“Everything Hurts” is another of those mid-tempo dance-pop songs – again, the kind of pop music with drums and synth suggesting maybe a dance number… until you try to dance to it and discover it’s maybe just barely too slow to dance to. I’ll retract that a little in this case; I’ve actually been able to dance to “Everything Hurts,” which you would, unfortunately, know if you ever peered through my window while I was listening to it.

Hadley closes out her EP with “Love Like That,” a singer-songwriter pop number that elicits a wistfully, melancholically positive portfolio of emotions.

The song that pulled me in was “Orbit,” with its obvious hit potential and quick catchiness, so definitely make that your first listen, but the rest of the album, quite quickly, grew on me until the entire collection became a favorite segment of my music review queue. So yeah, give these songs a try; they’re exceptionally well-written, so if it’s your musical style, you’ll dig ’em.

More Recently

Hadley is plugging her single “Friends Forever” with Jordan Lindley.

Looking Ahead

The “tour” page of Hadley’s website doesn’t list any upcoming dates, but that’s where you’ll find ’em. And you can read updates about her musical career here on Hadley’s Facebook page or on her Instagram page.

 

Album Review: Jimmy Lee Morris – Diamond Rain

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Jimmy Lee Morris – Diamond Rain album cover

image courtesy of Jimmy Lee Morris

The Backstory

Diamond Rain is yet another dependably enjoyable collection of well-written songs. I’ve reviewed so much of Jimmy Lee’s music that it’s almost hard to figure out how to describe it again. So that fact, along with the realization that I was falling behind on my reviews, prompted a discussion with Jimmy Lee – who writes for this Blog under the name James Morris. Or does James Morris perform as Jimmy Lee? Regardless, James offered to write about this record himself. (And he answers my question at the start of his write-up, by the way.)

I had planned to preface that with a brief intro, sharing a couple of my favorite songs on the new disc along the way. With apologies to Jimmy Lee, despite having the album for many months before its November 25, 2022 release date, I didn’t get my part written. Of course, I wrote nothing between December 2021 and July 2023, so many artists have received long-delayed reviews in the last few weeks. I’m actually skipping over a few delayed reviews in the queue right now, in part because I just need to write a short intro to be able to share James’ exposition about this very well-crafted, dependably cool collection of songs with you. So, without further ado, I’ll begin with a brief…

Album Review of Jimmy Lee Morris: Diamond Rain

If there’s one thing you can count on from Jimmy Lee Morris, it’s lyrically and musically thoughtful, folk-influenced mostly-light pop that’ll provide an interesting listen while bringing a smile to your face. As always with Jimmy Lee, Diamond Rain sports a great deal of song-to-song melodic variety within a rather tight sonic window, perhaps a surprising feat, but he’s an artist who has delivered it dependably across multiple album releases.

The songs on this release feature the same signature sounds you’ll find on many recent Jimmy Lee Morris releases. But each song is crafted well enough – and Jimmy Lee has a broad enough set of musical influences – that each new album is a welcome new friend.

Personal favorite songs on this disc include the whimsically-musicked opener “Fiction Is The Truth Today,” the fun, funky-tempoed nostalgic “Seventeen,” the encouraging ditty “Talent is Timeless,” the movin’-along, journey-styled song “Wipe the City Dirt from Off our Face,” and the almost Renaissance festival-styled heartfelt strummer “She Is So Precious To Me.” Finally, the album closes with “Don’t Make It All About Something,” leaving the listener to savor the full-on Jimmy Lee Morris experience, exiting with a song that’s joyfully on-brand.

Of course, you’ll have your own favorites, as the disc is solid beginning-to-end.

Now, I’ve promised you more than just yet another Geoff Wilbur review of a Jimmy Lee Morris record. So here’s what you (and James) have been waiting for, written nearly a year ago, it’s a runthrough of Jimmy Lee Morris’ Diamond Rain, in his own words, penned nearly a year ago. Not to give too much away, but it’s a cool peek into his process, and it’s much more interesting than my breezy review.

James Morris‘ Review of Jimmy Lee Morris: Diamond Rain

Today I sat down and had a chat with myself, about my alter ego Jimmy Lee Morris’s new album Diamond Rain which is out 25th November 2022.

The new album was written and recorded towards the end of 2021 and then I’ve sat on it for a year to let the tracks settle. I am always too impetuous with new songs, and once they are done I always seem to rush them out and then want to go back to them and fix all the stuff I hear later that I wish I had done differently.

This time I was determined just to let things lie, and in that way I have routed out the songs that didn’t quite stand the test of time. As a result, four tracks from the recording sessions were left out, and the final release ended up a nice tight little nine-track album that I am not tempted to skip through.

I thought it would be good to take you through each track starting with the opener, “Fiction Is The Truth Today.” In November 2021, I sat and absorbed the brilliant multi-hour documentary Get Back by Peter Jackson, showing for the first time in decades how The Beatles’ recording sessions for their album Let It Be unfolded. It was fascinating from a songwriting perspective to see songs like “Get Back” come to life, created out of the ether over a few days jamming in the studio. I thought I would like to try to approach writing a few songs in that way. Starting with a riff and stringing a few chords together, I started singing any words that created a tune to go over the top of what I was playing. I wasn’t fussed what they were to start with and figured something would come together out of the chaos process.

“Fiction Is The Truth Today” was one of those. I recalled some of the events happening in the news, and of course we were coming out of two years of lockdowns and the COVID pandemic. I thought how strange life had become and how it was more like a bizarre story than reality. I had a song back in the ’80s that was called “Fiction Of Truth,” written from headlines in the papers, and this idea gave me a start to the new song. I remember walking ’round the park in the cold winter months with the tune in my headphones just making up anything that came into my head, which led to some odd lyrics that I then hung current events and references to.

“Seventeen” is the next song on the album and tells the story of events from my younger days. It has verses on my art college days, first band, and first job. All of which happened when I was 17 or maybe 18, but I used a bit of artistic license.

When I get into a groove of songwriting, a few often come out over a very short space of time. This one and the final two songs on the album, “She Is So Precious To Me” and “Don’t Make It All About Something,” were all written in a couple of days sat in front of the fire with my guitar and a note pad. The latter song was inspired by my son sitting behind me on the drum kit, and we started jamming a riff and rhythm which turned into that song. Again, I was singing anything that fitted with the groove and let whatever came out stick and then tinkered with it to finish it off. Once you have a first verse idea, the rest falls into place to suit the mood you have started.

Track three, “Talent Is Timeless” was written earlier in the year as part of a songwriting competition I entered. I was part of the Facebook group and one of the challenges was to write a song on the theme that talent is timeless. I like the discipline of having to write from a given subject. I first did it when I was 16 and was commissioned to write a song about communications breaking down. This was for a local youth theatre group, and I got paid my very first money for making music for that song. I also did it for the title track on my album Wilderness Wood. A local woodland centre had asked the album’s producer whether he would come up with a song for them, and he gave the idea to me. I remember writing it on my journey back home from the studio that evening. So that is how I wrote “Talent Is Timeless” and also discovered that I hated songwriting competitions, as you soon realise that you can’t judge which song is the best; it is too subjective and therefore a waste of time. Never again. I should say that my son plays the Cajon on this one.

The next two songs on the album were written by a performer and songwriter, Roger Brooks, back in the late ’70s and early ’80s. He released them on a tape cassette album to sell at gigs, but they are now also on streaming services for all to hear. I knew Roger back then when I was only 13 or 14, and he kindly took an interest in my early first efforts to write songs, having had a guitar for Christmas shortly before that. He was a gigging musician on the UK folk circuit and mixed in those famous folk circles including the likes of Ralph McTell. I remember playing football on Barnes Green in South West London with them both. As I grew up and life moved on we lost touch, but in 2021 I sadly learned that Roger had passed away quite a few years before. He was only in his 50s, and it shook me up a bit. Things I had forgotten about those years came back to me, and I realized what an influence he had been on me as I started my musical journey. I discovered his music again on Spotify and listened to his songs. I started to play a few of them on my guitar and soon decided to pay a small tribute to him and his memory by recording “In The Diamond Rain” and “Special Reservation.” I would have loved to share stories with him now and for him to see how my music turned out, thanks in some part to him all those years ago.

“Woke Up This Morning” is a bit of a tongue-in-cheek reference to all those blues songs that start with that line. In actual fact, though, I did wake up one morning and saw the light creeping in through the curtains, which made me guess at what time it must be to decide if I was getting up or not. The song wrote itself there and then. It was at the end of making my lockdown album Truth Is The Talisman in 2020, but it was too late to be included on that one. It hung around a while and then came back out for this new album.

The only one left to mention is “Wipe The City Dirt From Off Your Face.” I had to take my car to Exeter for a service just before Christmas 2021. It was going to be there the whole day, so I had to kick around and fill the time. I walked from the industrial estate where I left the car and went via the riverside over bridges past rusting old boats and run-down warehouses. I climbed up the hill to the cathedral and explored the city for the day. The castle ruins, the parks and the Christmas market. I watched as the place filled with people and eventually wandered back to pick my car up the way I came in. All these pictures in my head were so poetical that when I got home I wrote down the journey as it came back to me, and it all streamed out to create a musical picture of events, pretty much as they had happened. Another one that wrote itself. Like I said earlier, when you are lucky enough to get in that songwriting groove, magic can happen. It’s a real folksy acoustic song with just a touch of festiveness about it.

The whole album needed a theme, and so I roped in my lovely other half to play flute across all the tracks. This gave the whole album a “sound” and created a folk feel which permeates throughout. I kept the production simple, restricting myself to acoustic guitar, bass, and drums to fit the flute around. It has, I hope, made for a spacious soundscape. Room to listen to the words and enjoy the stories being told.

I always like to do something different with each record, and so next up after this will be an ’80s style synth album inspired by my first ’80s band À La Tienne. I recorded it hand in hand with this new album to always have a different perspective to keep things fresh. That one is due out in May 2023.

I always seem to be a couple of albums ahead of myself but this new one, Diamond Rain, is out on November 25th, 2022.

Since the Release

Jimmy Lee Morris has released three recordings on his bandcamp site since the release of Diamond Rain. Synthesis, an instrumental pop release, and Eighteen Ok, marking the 40th anniversary of Jimmy Lee’s synth-pop band À La Tienne, both hit the platform in May 2023, and The Mojo Filter, sporting a melodic bluesy influence, was added in July 2023. The man is prolific!

Looking Ahead

You’ll find live dates occasionally mentioned on the Jimmy Lee Morris Facebook and X pages. Plus, Jimmy Lee has a Facebook page for hat no hat, a duo with his son.