Reviews

Weekly Reviews For April 9, 2006

Review Index

I am Managing Editor at Metal4Life

I also contribute reviews to getreadytorock

I am also featured reviewer at spacerock.co.uk

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I was Editor & reviewer at MetalUK.

New Reviews

Dan Israel - same

Things have been getting stripped back over the years in Dan Israel world. First it was the Cultivators, then Dan Israel & The Cultivators. Now it's an eponymous album performed entirely by Dan.

At first listen I thought he'd taken a step too far. As always, the songs were good, for Dan is not a man who records bad songs. But the recording seemed raw and ramshackle in comparison to his back catalogue. Of course, I then read the press release which calls this 'an intentionally raw, ramshackle and rollicking self titled release". Well, that explains that, then!

However, that doesn't stop me wishing for a real drummer, especially when he rocks out on tracks such as the Willy DeVille like "Question", which is so nearly searing. It matters less when things slow down as on "Cold Cold Winter" or on the painfully close to the bone "Left Out", a song that sums up my life in 3 1/2 minutes. Naturally, like life itself, the song lasts longer than that, outliving its usefulness.

Although he remains a consummate songwriter, if I'm reaching for a Dan Israel album, then this won't be first on my list. That remains "Dan Who?". Of course I could always sequence the percussion-lite tracks and have a superb mini-album!

John Meldrum - Long Live Love


John Meldrum hails from Cleveland, lives in Paris, abandoned jingle writing in Los Angeles, explored local rhythms in Ghana and has somewhow emerged several years later as a classic singer / songwriter with an album of beautiful and heartwrenching love songs.

If you're looking for a clue to his approach look no further than the solitary cover, and closing track, Leonard Cohens "Ain't No Cure For Love". I've long believed that that life and love get harder, not easier, the longer you go on, and that you can never get used to the pain. And there seems to be a wealth of experience in the words of Mr Meldrum.

Luckily for his sanity he seems to have managed to hold on to his hope, which is a marvellous thing to behold. So when you get to the bouncy "You Set Me Free" or the album highlight "Holding On To Our Dreams" you're listening to a man who still believes in happy endings.

Of course it's not all spiritual as the yearning duet "Just One Night" avers, but is you're still a believer this is a faith affirming set of songs.

Calvin Hill - I Can't Give You Anything But Love

Bassist Calvin Hill has worked with some of the finest musicians jazz has to offer. He has performed alongside Pharaoh Sanders and Chet Baker amongst many others.

Here, with his own quartet, he's turned his attention to some of the all time classic love songs. Plucked from the songbooks of Sammy Cahn, Rodgers & Hart, Jerome Kern and Cole Porter, to name a few, it's a faultless song selection.

Now I'm not a man into vibes, but here, even when a lead instrument there's still a band feel to the performance. Too often, vibes can dominate a sound, but with an even space to all the instruments, no-one dominates even when driving the song.

There are plenty of smooth sounding highlights but I keep coming back to the delightfully sprightly interpretation of the title track, "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and the melancholic "Hymn A L'Amour".

Kieran Ridge Band - Nothing Left To Lose

I was greatly taken with the self titled debut from the Kieran Ridge Band, hence why my name now appears on their promo bumph. Luckily, what little remains of my tarnished reputation will stay burnished for a short while yet, as this is a cracking follow up.

A self proclaimed 'back to basics roots rock and roll band', this is the kind of rock that only wide open spaces produces. Ranging from the heartfelt "Drifter" through the rocking honky tonk of "Blinded By The Sight Of You", and the so true it hurts country of "Life Is Hard And Love's Unfair", this is a delightful set of songs.

A tight but loose band, great songs and arrangements, topped off by the sandpaper howl of Kieran himself, "Nothing Left To Lose" is a pleasure from start to finish.

Rob Heath - Couple Of Times Around The Sun

You know, I can count on the fingers of one, well maybe two hands, the number of albums that really get me right there. And here's another to add to that very short list.

Canadian sionger / songwriter Rob Heath has crafted a quite stunning set of songs here, in finest storytelling tradition. Anyone who knows me, knows my love for language and how frustrated I can get at my inability to express myself properly, in any medium. So when someone comes along with a near perfect grasp, it leaves me awestruck and jealous in equal measures.

I first listened to this one midnight, staring out to sea, and forty minutes later found myself welling up like a big girl. Fortunately, Rob says it's OK.

Songs like "Til Death Do Us Part", "What Jenny Draws" and "The Trick" are as close to perfect as can be. Stories, universal and personal, this is an album that will stay with me for as long as forever might be.