1)Procol Harum NOVUM
| Gary Brooker, voice and piano Geoff Whitehorn, guitars, vocal Matt Pegg, bass, vocal Josh Phillips, Hammond, synth, vocal Geoff Dunn, drums Release date 21 April 2017 | Pete Brown, words Dennis Weinreich, producer I Told on You, Last Chance Motel, Image of the Beast, Soldier, Don’t Get Caught,Neighbour, Sunday Morning, Businessman,Can’t Say That, The Only One, Somewhen; bonus track Honour on the Japanese version http://www.procolharum.com/phalbum13.htm |
2) What She Said
Fred Gillen Jr.
The "she" referred to in the title, What She Said, is not H. Rider Haggard's infamous She - more likely it is the Statue of Liberty, a third or half
That's what the Statue of Bigotry says
Your poor huddled masses
Let's club 'em to death
Lou Reed, Dirty Boulevard
Fred Gillen Jr. Review on TMR Zoo
http://www.tmrzoo.com/2017/71676/review-fred-gillen-jr-what-she-said
Fred Gillen Jr. opens his masterfully produced album, What She Said, with “Prayer for America” giving time and space to refugees, philosophy and the iconic Statue of Liberty only partially visible, as if sinking in the sand in Charlton Heston’s original Planet of the Apes. That philosophy, seeded throughout the variety of ideas, include possibly not believing in God but finding the need to pray. See how he brings Palestine to Baltimore on track nine, discussed a few lines down. Gillen’s grasp of a hook, eloquent essaying and his veteran vocals make for an all-around strong performance, hitting all cylinders. Remember Paul Kantner’s 1987 video and song for the KBC band, “America?” Thematically we are still in the same place, if not more critical with the plethora of skewed headlines, and like a good outing for Law and Order: SVU, the songwriter/singer pulls pertinent ones together for his musical OpEd. “Return of the Buffalo,” also coming in at three minutes plus, is a standout. Great song, great hook, and reminiscent of Elton John’s second American album, Tumbleweed Connection, where lyricist Bernie Taupin utilized Elton’s voice and music to record his purported interest in the wild old west while working on conquering America as Roxy Music tried with “Prairie Rose,” and David Bowie succeeded with when he danced with the “Young Americans.” Gillen’s voice gives this important melody what it deserves creating a moment that is both memorable and unique. This is an American singing about America, not a Brit experimenting with our country’s ideas (not that we mind that…it’s just that we’re the ones experiencing this world.) It glides in and out quickly like a pure pop song should, with staying power and also reminding those so inclined of the Star Trek episode, “The Man Trap,” the first episode to ever air.
Over the dozen tracks – which I’ve played in my car repeatedly – the vision is clear – a political statement on life in 2016/2017 with. My computer skipped up to “Baltimore Burns,” track 9, and it actually works quite well after “Return of the Buffalo” in retrospect. It is one of only three of the dozen compositions which are in the four-minute mark, the other nine three minutes plus, Gillen Jr. smartly giving his commentary within a pop structure that makes for a more dramatic impact. “She Loved” is folk/acoustic with country leanings, going back to where country radio was in the 1960s and 70s, including a line about her like for John Denver and Johnny Cash. “Julia,” co-written – as is track 3, “Future Americans,” with the equally talented Matt Turk (the pair also perform live as “Gillen and Turk,” ) is a change of pace, undercurrents of CSNY’s “Ohio” mixed with Robin Gibb’s popular classic solo outing, “Juliet.” Elegantly packaged in a six-panel cardboard, eco-friendly case, Gillen has taken a turn here from previous recordings to read – almost like spoken word over smartly crafted instrumentation. That’s expressed carefully in “Some Call it Karma, Some Call it Grace,” always with a chorus to underline the thoughts being expressed. “Where Are You Tonight Fallen Angel” concludes this next chapter in Fred Gillen Jr’s impressive journey calling out for a damaged someone, remembering the better aspect of a special friend who’s lost their way. A great conclusion to a thought-provoking disc that is worth your time exploring more than a few spins.
Worth noting from the P.R.: What She Said (2017) Full-length, solo, studio album #10, released on the 20th anniversary of album #1. 8 new Fred Gillen Jr original songs, and 4 co-writes with Abbie Gardner, Steve Kirkman, and Matt Turk.
3)The Beauty Way
Original Blue Oyster Cult's Jim Bouchard, Sev Grossman of the Boom Boom Band, this amazing group has delivered a dozen tracks produced by Dan Cardinal at Dimension Sound, where Craig Leon produced those phenomenal Willie Alexander and the Boom Boom Band demo tapes for MCA, the tapes that actually should have been released AS the album.
"Sixes and Sevens" opens with drummer Peter D'Angelo's "boom boom" sound straight out of David McLean from Sev's iconic band. Bouchard's slinky guitar nicks some Creedence - "Fortunate Son's" riff, but that mutates and evolves into a driving stomp. Terrific stuff.
1.
|
Sixes and Sevens 04:14
| |||
2.
|
Beauty Way 04:04
| |||
3.
|
All Over The Map 03:11
| |||
4.
|
Didn't It Rain 04:57
| |||
5.
|
Where I Came In 04:28
| |||
6.
| ||||
7.
|
Late At Night 03:28
| |||
8.
|
I Was So Wrong 04:26
| |||
9.
|
Stop 06:17
| |||
10.
|
This Type of Light 04:50
| |||
11.
|
Way Down In The Hole 04:57
| |||
12.
|
https://thebeautyway.bandcamp.com/album/the-beauty-way
4)Kenny Selcer
https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kennyselcer4
Artist: Kenny Selcer
CD I Simplify
14 tracks
On Kenny Selcer’s long-awaited ambitious effort, I Simplify,
New England’s veteran acoustic / Americana minstrel has put together an album
that fuses Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street nuances with Grateful Dead
guitar/keyboard interplay. Those Stones’
nuances are subtle, an undercurrent on the opening track, “I Know It’s Not Too
Late,” Selcer’s philosophical observations rife with intentional simple word
structure a la Bernie Taupin in Elton John’s classic “Daniel,” taking the “rain
in Spain” cliché rhymes and using them to good effect. “It’s
All Around You” was in release a few months before the album (an electronic,
internet single, of sorts) and it is beautifully constructed with Steve Peabody’s
drums giving the reggae flavored love song it’s march along beat. The production is exquisite, Selcer the
former owner of a recording studio in Boston back in the 1980s and live sound
engineer who has worked with too many name artists to list here, places
instrumentation and voice perfectly. Each song is over four minutes, so the
fourteen tracks make for a lengthy listening experience, about seventy minutes
or so.
The four and a half minute “Evelyn” is a standout and has
Selcer on mandolin and most instruments a la Emmit Rhodes and Paul McCartney, Rob
Rudin helping out with some of the drum programming. For the Americana Pop that
the song is, there’s a flavor of blues in the singing and lyric.
The title track at 5:39 is the longest, an epic with the
rhythmic beats accented, a heavy reggae boost with Selcer choosing multiple light
guitar licks and backing vocals to boost the vibe. Mixed by Matt Hayes at Wellspring Sound in
2016 with the studio owner, Eric Kilburn, handling the mastering, the love and
care put into this project is clear, as exhibited in the Celtic instrumental “Kenny’s
Tune,” a truly inventive mix of sounds that is compelling bringing to mind when
voiceless pop songs would rule the airwaves, Paul Mauriat’s “Love is Blue,” the
timeless “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” by Sounds Orchestral, the airy, catchy,
splendid sounds before Edgar Winter’s “Frankenstein” developed the hard rock
instrumental as a hit record. Final
track “Stay Awhile” features Stompers/Fox Pass bassist Steve Gilligan, with
keyboards from Chris Billias and Mike Migliozzi on drums. The use of a band brings another flavor to a
mostly self-performed album though players Roland Ochsenbein on piano,
conga/percussionist Manolo Mairena and bassist Andy Solberg add their talents
throughout, this is mostly a self-performed project with Kenny Selcer bringing
to life some of his BMI administered catalog featuring music and words that
span fifteen years, from 2001 to 2016.
(Joe Viglione)
5)BOP APOCALYPSE
________________________________________________________
6)Hummingbird Syndicate
Artist Hummingbird
Syndicate
Title Pop Tricks
12 Tracks
Review by Joe Viglione
The members of Hummingbird Syndicate are a pure pop collective
and their opening track to the Pop Tricks album, “Romance,” is as sweet a
confection as you’ll find. Jon Macey’s
production work for Elektra records as well as his two albums with Tom Dickie
and the Desires on Mercury – along with his perfect ear – oversees a project
that Archies vocalist and Barry Manilow producer Ron Dante would have totally
immersed himself in during the ‘60s. Lynn
Shipley as creative partner helps bring the harmonies and melodies in sync with
the lyrics, and they generate a full and entertaining sound.
“After Stephen Foster” switches
hats from that exquisite pop to pure Americana with the harmonies of Shipley,
Mary Jaye Simms and Jennifer Lewis Bennet adding some gospel to the acoustic number.
Seven of the dozen songs are under four minutes, which
makes for extended play when it comes to a serious and happily light-hearted
outfit whose CD Baby page declares proudly: “ABBA
meets the Ramones, Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris… Mamas & Papas sing
the Velvets” and it’s so true, with the Abba leanings more geared towards Don
Kirshner pop. “You Don’t Know (Much
About Me) wander into territory owned by The Band with Marianne Faithful on
vocals, splendid guitars bring it all to life in a wonderful way. As much as
the music stretches over the individual artist careers of the parts that make
up this whole, to anyone aware of Boston rock and roll, it is Macey who is the
central figure with Stompers/Fox Pass rhythm section Lenny Shea and Steve
Gilligan who add their talents along with Tom Hostage of Macey’s Parade, with
the string slingers indulging in “electric
and acoustic guitars, mandolins, mandolas, 12-strings, and B-Benders” according to the group bio. To that
point, “Haley” is pure Macey’s Parade, more so than Fox Pass and Hummingbird
Syndicate, which is fine, because this amalgam of Shipley/Macey/Gilligan/Hostage/Shea/Bennet/Simms
etc. modern rock mixed with the long-established (over four decades) sounds
these performers and recording artists have developed can shape-shift and blend
in the communal spirit that their name indicates. A music mafia of colorful
birds with iridescent feathers – which is why this review is in the Arial font…I
think.
Along with the 12 songs on Pop Tricks
there is also a CD single “Waterfall Away” b/w “I Want You To Stay” on
Actuality Records. You can find the
two additional songs on Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/hummingbird-syndicate and they are as vibrant and exciting as the
music on the full lengthy. As stated,
the production is as state-of-the-art as the musicianship. With Chris
Maclachlan of Human Sexual Response, L.A. guitarist Dan Coughlin, Andy
Hollinger and Pop Gun’s Jim Melanson it is more like the Mamas and the Mamas
and the Papas and the Papas, an ensemble that has delivered music distinctly
different from anything on the New England music scene, a wonderful invention
of multiple chefs drawing from the same palette in unison, never stepping on
anyone else’s space. Remarkable.
7)Dionysia
LIVE SHOWS
POSITIVE NEGATIVE MAN LIVE AT MIDDLE EAST
APRIL 12, 2017
https://youtu.be/t0wc4KC8kl0
WHISTLEBOT, LIVE AT MIDDLE EAST 4/12/17
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smmUOp465mk
10)The Brigands
Artist: The Brigands
Title: Night Patrol
16 songs
11)Thirty Silver Welcome Home
February 3, 2017 Club
Bohemia, downstairs at The Cantab Lounge
Haley Katrin, Billy Quill, Dionysia, Mike Morrissey
A very impressive show on February 3 with Haley Katrin
backed by guitarist Adam Sickler – an entertaining mixture of sounds seguing
from acoustic to pop rock with a heavy backbeat. Katrin’s authoritative voice
punctuated each note with the precision of a pro, but rock and roll enough to
let the band drive with a nice ragged edge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5gqn18kzCA Haley’s set consisted of Be
Your Girl Skate By Sheep Sugar Water Angel from Montgomery Half Past 3 23
Tinder Hipster Prince. Shade Tramp from
Stains of a Sunflower records and provides the drumming for Haley. Have to get
a Sunflower live review up soon.
Also on the bill were Mike Morrissey, Billy Quill and a
superb band called Dionysia. Morrissey’s
aching vocal works over interesting guitar weavings, the space in between the
strums and the voice play with the imagination in a nice way recalling hit
artists Norma Tanega, Tim Buckley and Janis Ian. It was a complementary diversion from
Katrin’s powerful approach, Morrissey using subtleties to make his point, and a
good transition for the audience.
Morrissey’s set went from She Smiled, Unseen, Arrive,
Heartbeat, Puppets, Hands, Miss June, Fool's Gold, and Rainy Days in that order
Billy Quill’s voice and compositions are drenched in bluesy
pop with a solid groove with words that combine insight with
introspection. The instrumentation
sometimes dangles in the air, as does his voice, to good effect.
Dionysia played songs from their CD The Breach and issue
their musical statement with polish and sometimes lots of angst. Songs like “Zombie,” “Glory” and “Doorstep”
have one-word titles which push the pop envelope with catchy chord changes and
clever riffs. (Joe Viglione)
_____________________________________________
Melissa Weikart at Club
Bohemia Thursday April 27, 2017
Downstairs Kate Taylor-Mighty, Rollo Tomasi Quartet,
Melissa Weikart
Upstairs – The Chicken Slacks
Though originally a four band
bill, Kate Taylor-Mighty made her Bohemia debut followed by one of the Bohemian
favorites, Rollo Tomasi Quartet. The
name Rollo Tomasi, of course, is the invisible assassin from the 1997 film L.A.
Confidential and Boston’s RTQ pretty much has a residency monthly at the club
under the Cantab and the group’s jazz-inspired rock has become popular in
Central Square. This writer has caught
them on many occasion but was only able to catch the third and final act.
It was an evening of pop with
heavy cosmic jazz influence as Melissa Weikart brought a dreamy sound into the Club
Bohemia cavern that is usually noisy and loud.
With Adam Tuch predominant with his smooth and inviting keyboards over
Zach King’s drums and Devon Hurt’s bass, Weikart played to a substantial and
appreciative crowd on a beautiful Thursday night in Central Square.
The diva’s voice reached
amazing heights over Matt Okun’s liquid guitar strums with bass, drums and keys
all generating a symphonic, airy bit of mystery, embracing Weikart’s lyric in a
pleasant and entertaining way. Engaging
renditions of her “Our Room,” White Dress,” “New Normal” and “Broken Records”
gave way to Weikart sitting down at Tuch’s piano to perform solo. “Unconventional, but it’s happening” she
noted as they were able to get the stand-up microphone at the right height for
“Humans.” The solo material, in
particular, seem perfect for a new Twilight Zone, odd piano sounds and a vocal
sound that went contrary to the notes she plucked off of the keyboard, quite
difficult to pull off. The audience, all
the tables and chairs filled, but still intimate, kept quiet during the solo
portion. Pure artistry at play and a very
welcome change of pace for our cellar full of noise in the cavern under Massachusetts
Ave.
Chicken Slacks upstairs were
downright frighteningly good with a more than average rowdy crowd stomping to
pure rhythm and blues. This writer gets
to see the Slacks almost every week, but this night, April 27, was more intense
than usual. The club was getting filled
to capacity and the room and floor were shaking…with a line of more people
outside. I snapped one video which
captured the craziness, but had to get out of Dodge as it was, “just too many
people” (thank you, Melissa Manchester) for me at midnight…had to get home to
catch the last part of Perry Mason.
iPhone video Mary Weikart 4 27 17 IMG 1168 Video, not
Facebook Live
https://youtu.be/XTn4UwKR3tw
Facebook Live https://youtu.be/9tkJJ1FEbtw
Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/melissa-weikart
_________________________________________________
