Tag Archives: Simon Scardanelli

Album Review: Simon Scardanelli – Make Us Happy

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Simon Scardanelli – Make Us Happy

The Backstory

My review of Simon Scardanelli’s previous full-length album, Dark Dog Days from his band Dr Scardo, was entry #3 in the “Road Back to Music Journalism” series with which I launched Geoff Wilbur’s Music Blog last fall. In that article, I also touched on Simon’s background in 1980s pop band Big Bam Boo and the fact that I first reviewed one of Simon’s albums when I wrote about his band The Eye Camera’s album entitled Death Row Tales in the mid 1990s. Simon’s new album, Make Us Happy, hit the streets today, March 4, 2016.

Album Review of Simon Scardanelli: Make Us Happy

Simon Scardanelli - Make Us Happy

image courtesy of Simon Scardanelli

In some ways, this sounds almost like a follow-up to Dark Dog Days, if perhaps a bit less dark for the most part. It’s more energetic, and the music itself seems a bit more cheerful on a greater percentage of the tracks, though the lyrics belie the deeper-seated frustration behind the music. I’ve come to expect dark, social issue-driven pop music from Simon, but Make Us Happy has a bit of a roots-rock/country-folk edge to it. Make no mistake, though; Simon’s recognizable voice and inimitable vocal delivery style, as well as the cynically-energetic, carefully-crafted lyrics he delivers, still drive this album. But it has a bit of a unique edge to it. Perhaps the best words I’ve found to describe this collection are that it’s rootsy, issue-driven pop that’s passed through the dark side of a carnival fun-house mirror.

From the first strains of “Whirlwind,” this album begins as you’d expect an Americana disc to open. As the record progresses, the music leans a bit old-school folk-country, suggesting perhaps even a little Johnny Cash toward the beginning of the fourth track, “Hopes in My Pocket.” OK, maybe just a hint.

The title track, “Make Us Happy,” is really an uptempo dark pop track, but the tempo and delivery hint at the rant of a carnival barker sounding the alarm while calling out an energetic, twisted country square dance. This song is a masterpiece!

It’s followed by “Sweet Loretta,” which sounds a bit more like pure Americana music; I’d’ve suggested the mountains of West Virginia, but the song itself mentions Kentucky. And it’s followed by a song that’s oddly accessible, “Truth Seems Stranger,” a song that’s tough to describe more precisely than as folk-pop that’s not as pop as it seems to be.

“Days That Lie” returns to an Old West, country/folk/Americana vibe before the album closes with the ominously haunting “Dagger.”

As a whole, Make Us Happy is a nice, deep, thoughtful collection of songs that lean a bit darker than would ordinarily accompany their pop packaging. If you don’t own any of Simon Scardanelli’s albums, check this one out; it’s not like anything else in your collection. And if you’re already a fan…? Well, though I’m sure you’re planning to buy the disc anyway, I can assure you it’s equal to his best.

Looking Ahead

Check Simon’s website for performance information. On March 13th, you can catch him on Genevieve Tudor’s Sunday Folk @ BBC Radio Shropshire. And on June 9th, he’s scheduled to perform at The Acoustic Club @ Half Moon in Bishop’s Stortford.

The Road Back #3: Dr Scardo

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The Road Back to Music Journalism #3: Dr Scardo’s Dark Dog Days Album

Discovering a New Album Through Twitter

Summer 2013

Simon Scardanelli

photo courtesy of Simon Scardanelli

The Backstory

You may recall Simon Scardanelli as part of the 1980s pop group Big Bam Boo. The group had hits that charted in the UK and Canada back in 1989. While publishing Geoff Wilbur’s Renegade Newsletter, in the mid-nineties I reviewed the album Death Row Tales by Simon’s band The Eye Camera. He and I remained in contact through the years. And in the summer of 2013, I spotted a tweet from Simon saying that he was offering a copy of his latest album, Dr Scardo’s Dark Dog Days, as a free download for a week so his fans could check it out. Intrigued, I downloaded it and dove in.

Why This Was a Step on the Road Back

This album was the first music I had decided to download based on a tweet. Indeed, I hadn’t been using any online source to find new music. And even though this album was downloaded on a whim, it finally sparked in me a desire to seek out new music online. Partly because it was unlike any of the music I heard on the radio, I suppose, it refreshed my desire to listen to music I couldn’t otherwise easily find. And even though I had known Simon previously, the new music I began to seek out after this was by other artists who I hadn’t previously known about. In fact the rest of my “Road Back” series will be about these other artists, all of whom I’ve discovered since the day in 2013 I donwloaded Dark Dog Days on a whim. At this point on the “road,” I didn’t have even the slightest hint that I would want to write about music again, but the ball was certainly rolling downhill.

Dr Scardo

image courtesy of Simon Scardanelli

The Album Review of Dr Scardo: Dark Dog Days

Dark Dog Days is a powerful statement about the state of the world. It’s a very issue-driven album. It’s dark. It’s often angry, sometimes brooding, other times melancholy, but mostly insistent, as if an album with an opinion, demanding to be heard. Musically, it’s modern, darkly moody rock with a nod to a synch-pop/rock past.

The dark-pop disc-opener, “Leave Us Alone,” is more than just a disaffected youth anthem; it channels the anger of all people marginalized by society. It’s followed by “Wall Street Hustle,” mixing a catchy recurring rhythm and hook into a lyrical soup attacking Wall Street and politicians for their damage to the working population with a tone that screams anger but also carries a hint of resignation about the way the world works.

Also worth noting: “End of the World” takes a look at civil disobedience and the resistance of the power establishment to protesters’ interests. “Dark Horse Damned” takes a shot at the overmedication of kids. “Resolution Oil” is a 7-minute, exceptionally engaging epic reproach of the oil industry and its impact on the world’s population. Even “If You Could See Me Now,” a 1989 Big Bam Boo song, is given a new, updated, fully modern dark rock treatment, emerging as a sort of slow, insistent, pleading ballad.

And finally, the title track takes aim at the way consumer commercialism has overwhelmed people’s lives so much that its importance in people’s lives has blinded them to what’s being done in the world right before their eyes. It’s amazing a nine-plus minute song can seem to go by so quickly, but like everything on the album, it’s well-crafted and features exceptional musicianship.

Whether or not you agree with its social commentary, Dark Dog Days, as an album, is an artistic masterpiece.