Bruce Tarney’s CD titled No Loud Music finds this Columbus to Nahant rocker belting at the top of his lungs as well as mellowing out for quieter, sensitive tunes that let him and his support players show their sophistication. This disc wax initially released just before the pandemic rendered our lifestyles into something resembling a hollow reflection of what the music scene used to be. Once it becomes possible, Tarney should jump right back in to push his music into a very receptive audience.
Opening track “OK” is catchy rock, its basic chorus easy to sing along to as the music maintains an even run of guitars, bass, and drums. Tarney’s vocals are mildly reminiscent of Alice Cooper. Tarney’s attitude matches the drive of this piece, keeping it simple and unpretentious. Eventually, its lead guitarist, Kook Lawry spearheads the song, takes it through spirals of high octane motion.
“Bundle Of Joy” wedges its way into the listener’s consciousness with its quick rhythmic slaps. Bristling guitars make a solid support for Tarney’s up tempo vocal belt. Eventually, the song gives way to Kook Lowry’s lead guitar firestorm, a high voltage phrase that seamlessly folds back into the basic underpinnings of the song. Tarney’s vocal belt is gymnastic and wide, and his attitude in this song is even larger. When Tarney gets things off his chest, the whole world knows it.
Chilling out a bit, Tarney moves more quietly into “Echoes Of The Scream,” a ballad thing that lets him show how well he can color and finesse a slower song. His voice matches the emotive lyrical content, letting his gentle control roll out the fun dynamic build up. With Tim Archibald and Tony DePietro laying down a fulsome groove, producer Brian Maes coats it with his soft raindrops of notes as Kook Lowry pays out a rangy, searing lead guitar phrase. Contrasting the fulsome groove with the freewheeling upper registers makes one feel all of the cool, multiple moving parts.
“First Time” is a rockin’ love song. Tarney takes s through how he met his special someone at an establishment. He belts out the familiar details as he tinkles a rock and roll piano over a racing lead guitar phrase from Dominic Civiello. Bassist John Leblanc and drummer Henry White help Tarney unveil his narrative by punctuating it with precise strikes during each verse.
“Blue Situation” is marked by Brain Maes Hammond organ intro and follow up swirls of smoky keyboards. Tarney swaggers around the musical support with impressive pauses and sustains, sending his vocal out over a solid rhythmic groove. His rock and roll attitude carries this as much as anything else going on in this song, The vocal belt and large groove are enough. So, the song gets even larger and cooler when guitarist Nate Comp injects a lead guitar phrase, a higher pitched phrase that slides around like bacon in a pan while maintaining a thick crunch.
“Drop Dead” kicks in with Nate Comp’s feisty guitar supported by Archibalds’s and Depietro tight rhythmic work. Disciplined musicians playing with rock and roll abandon. Archibald funks things up with an elastic, twangy bass solo alongside Nate Comp’s snappy guitar work. There is a flow to this kind of rock music that has not been seen since the 1970s. It’s adrenaline inducing, driven, with a fine melodic sensibility.
Sometimes the way a band colors a song with tones makes the song successful. Sounding a bit like Rush in its opening notes. “Bad For Me, Good For You” eerily reflects the dark emotions of the song’s subject matter. Kook Lawry and Michael Lucantonio inject plenty of creepy sensations with their minor notes. Tim Archibald’s bass swing feels as ominous as a descending pendulum. Tarney, too, sounds dark here, his vocal plaintive, desperate, a man seeking to avoid an inevitable fate. Every element comes together in one haunting rock and roll harbinger of doom.
With a theme about the individual against the system, “Human Soul” lets Tarney and his four support players show how well they can develop a sensitive message. Tarney knows how to hit the listeners’ soft spot, ending his verse with a tender coo. He develops his chorus from a soft slow build up until it briefly reaches a sharper point. Nate Comp’s arcing guitar line starts out dark and low then rises to become a very twisty phrase with edge and flow. Tarney and company wave a large banner in support of the human factor versus a tragic circumstance and every part has an immediate impact.
Close out track “Last Young Love” feels like something out of a shinier time in rock and roll. Tarney belts his chorus over Barry Goudreau’s wily lead guitar line, a contrast in ranges that gives this song a double bite. Brian Maes keeps chiming in with an oldies rock and roll piano line that flavors this with more classic rock appeal. This is just one fun tune. Placing it at the end of the album indicates that Tarney and his gang will be back for more action in future recording and future gigs.
It can only be hoped that when this pandemic is finally behind us, we will be able to witness Tarney‘s talents in person. Produced, engineered, and mastered by local legend Brian Maes and released on Maes’ Briola T Records, No Loud Music is a testament to the positive energy of music that must be played loud at the gigs and also on every fan’s stereo. This disc should make for a good calling card to get Tarney into many local New England venues.
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