Welcome to my latest Retro CD Review article. This is the column space I use to review CDs that I did not review at the time of their release. These “old” CDs are still “new” to listeners who have not yet heard them, and there are many, as local musicians do not have multi-million dollar market campaigns to reach the masses. This particular Retro CD Review article has a woman in rock angle, featuring two women solo artists and two bands each with a female member.On her title track, DeRosa’s steady and just lush enough vocal expresses emotional truth about the hidden heart and quiet mind. Support from classical guitarist John Curtis and clarinetist Billy Novick give this song a slightly Mediterranean flavor with many rhythmic twists within their melodies.
“Bright Lights On A Dark Road” finds DeRosa singing in a forlorn vocal quality as Tom Eaton’s Rhodes piano fills in space around her with many subtle touches. Listeners can feel DeRosa’s mourning for her life as it used to be. A backing vocal from Vance Gilbert add an appealing unique timbre in the space behind the lead vocal.
DeRosa puts herself in the mind of one her immigrant grandparents on “Italian Heart,” and it stands out the most for its flavorful ethnic melodies. Tom Eaton’s haunting accordion captures the feeling of Italy’s yesteryear. “Complicated Woman” has DeRosa singing with purposeful stride over John Curtis’s icy cool guitar line and the jazzy rhythm section of bassist Paul Kochanski, drummer Lorne Entress and percussionist Tara Greenblatt.
DeRosa’s direct delivery heightens the impact of “Tell Me Again,” a song about spiritual salvation from past emotional trauma . Kochanski’s bass lumbers through slowly with the force of a mighty beast foraging the woods, and Novick’clarinet speaks forlornly with a sing song melody.
The singer-songwriter recollects a lost love on “I Remember Your Face.” Her voice fills the space with tenderness, and, framed by Kristen Miller’s cello, adds an extra layer of emotional depth for the listener to lose himself in.
“Waiting In New Orleans” is a protest song that doesn’t feel like a protest song. “Waiting” puts you there, in the midst of people suffering. Post Hurricane Katrina, it is simply the perspective of someone waiting for food, relief, and divine intervention. Tom Eaton’s Wurlitzer and Billy Novick’s clarinet artfully conjure up further feelings of desperateness. Backing vocalist Tara Greenblatt adds a spiritual dimension, crying out in coos with soulful abandon.
“Secrets In The Family” works best at showcasing what DeRosa can do with the English language. Her twisty lyrics are filled with images that show a story without having to spell out the obvious: “Playing children’s games/Much too young to notice/How much our faces looked the same.” Though DeRosa gives only a hint of parental identification in that verse, she tosses in just enough in the next one about an act of fate one autumn night that “Tore open all the lies.” In a later verse she says, “The damaged raged from home to home/Roaring like a twister.”
Those artistic flourishes are like a painter’s small details. They create a strong feeling of what went on without numbing listeners with information. And once again, DeRosa is indebted to her backing players. John Curtis’s high string guitar, Kristen Miller’s cello, and Tom Eaton’s accordion weave the emotional tapestry, seemingly on command of the power in her dramatic presentation and poetic lyrics.
DeRosa put out a strong CD in Secrets & Stories. She is a good story teller, using subtle hints and suggestion and sound tracking them with ear catching colors and tones.
Brooklyn band ELLIS ASHBROOK has taken the Boston to New York City circuit by storm. Slamming out groove, hard rock, and prog works for this foursome. Their 2008 release ASSEMBLAGE won them many more fans with its mesh. Prog, funk, and hard rock fans will dig this because experiments never fail to do justice to all three.
Bass player Jonathan Granoff whip ups all sorts of funky techniques, adds extra depth to the bottom, and often plays the low end like a lead instrument. Keyboard lady Natalie Lowe effortlessly conjures a host of sound effects with her synths, and her usual organ and piano melodies are rich with texture and leap forward with subtle nuances.
“Therefore, However, And So Forth opens the album with an explosion of guitar, bass, and drums. From there, the four piece execute a fine flow of hard rock. Guitarist John Barber slams out phrases with true discipline. His guitar sound is huge, loud, and occasionally bombastic. Bassist Jonathan Granoff keeps the motion fluid, smooth. Drummer Alex Major powers the forward motion. Keyboardist Natalie Lowe fills whatever space she can find with her eerie synth notes.
Lowe’s voice is fetching and plaintive on “A Shot,” holding each note long, stretching out the vocal melody in ways haunting and effective. The rhythm section on this one is progressive, complex, and fun. The rhythm boys manufacture a groove that can keep the listener’s head bopping all the way through to its end.
Rapidly sung and swiftly riffed, “Savior Self” is a basic rock form speeded up in tempo, way up. The band must have challenged themselves to see how fast they could play while still maintaining a solid song structure. They pass with flying colors. Barber impresses as a singer as well as guitarist. He belts out with explosive energy this admonition song about people who seek to convert and save others when they, in fact, are the ones who need help.
Lowe’s song “Hard 2 B EZ” features her playing a beautiful electric keyboard that sounds somewhat like an accordion. Lowe’s mellow, moderately high, silky voice kites above gentle melodies and easy going grooves. Lowe has an elastic range as singer and keyboardist, and she takes the listener on a roller coaster ride of high and low notes, varying tempos, and dynamics. “Skunk” is bopping funk. Funky guitar riffs, loping bass lines, chirpy organ notes, and an infectious backbeat make this fun to try to move one’s feet Or, to just follow along with the swirl of melody instruments that eventually take over and ratchet up even more funk. Lowe and Barber sing coolly together as Lowe injects some oddly appealing synth sounds.
“Mr. Anyone” allows Barber to pay out high pitched wails, crunchy chord progressions, and simultaneous lead-rhythm parts. Totally hip, Barber and Lowe sing the sudden, whispery chorus together. Bass pedal effects give this one a weird, intriguing bottom. Lowe’s racing organ notes and Barber’s freewheeling guitar line, played over hip, intricate progressions from the rhythm section make this one interesting song.
An early Pink Floyd influence informs “More Gain Free Man” when forlorn guitar notes bend and sustain, creating a dream-like, hypnotic atmosphere. A Rush influence shows up when slamming, speedy sounds come out of nowhere. A King Crimson influence can be heard in the intricate, algebraic form structure. Yet, the influences and inspirations are only vague hints inside the wholly original sonic landscape Ellis Ashbrook has summoned up from their combined musical prowess and vocabulary.
ROSE KULA’s 2000 release FAINT GLIMPSE is a masterwork of solo acoustic guitar meeting electric backing band. Kula’s fine songwriting craft comes to life throughout this CD on the strength of her lush vocal and support players.
Opening with “Scotch Pines,” Kula’s ruminates about mellow, pleasant life in a small town. Her voice is full of scene-setting lush tones. Like a polished instrument, her vocal glides along as her backing band fills in the space behind her with sunny tones that augments her voice and tale. Lead guitar player Bruce Boucher pulls off the difficult task of keeping his instrumentation bright and interesting without upstaging the singer. This guitarist picks off sweet, delicate notes that force the listener to visualized Kula’s quaint rural town.
A bit more introspective and serious, “Time Passes,” keeps things pleasant while reflecting on how everyone is at a different emotional place in their lives at each age. Kula looks backs with courage on dreams that never materialized. Her song works because an easy-going pace lets her pretty voice add a touch of tender, personal care.
Kula gets vocally raw and a bit raspy on “Broken Hearted Blues.” Guitarist Boucher plays a tender lead phrase that speaks of melancholy mournfulness while harmonica player Bruce Palmer blows through it all with a vintage rootise blues-train style from an earlier time.
“Proposition # 9” is a soulful, slow burner, with Kula sounding like an R&B chanteuse from an earlier period in American music. Her influences clearly include Billie Holiday and Etta James, all class, polished, smooth, upscale. Jim Kokolis provides the smooth underpinnings with his guitar and bass work. Saxophonist Howie Fohlin fires up even more soul with his rangy, mellow horn lines.
Kula contemplates the ease with which people can find themselves back with their exes, even exes who are bad for you. Kokolis’s lead guitar riff and Fohlin’s sax line are snappy and catchy enough for this song to have received radio play.
Though Kula plays solo acoustic with only a backing vocalist on “Kaleidoscope Of Fear,” it is her strongest performance on Faint Glimpse. Her lush, lithe voice, her acoustic guitar, and her backing vocalist Karri Cholhosey are all she needs to makes this all wide and expansive, poignant and touching. The singer pleads for understanding. She doesn’t see things in black and white and someone who does makes her see trouble in her multi-colored world of anxieties. Not only does “Kaleidoscope Of Fear” succeed as a metaphor, it works on the strength of Kula’s gentle, subtle vocal approach, gracing the rolling sense of movement in her words.
Title track “Faint Glimpse” plays out with purpose and drama. Kula employees a vocal pause here and there, creating a sense of drama. She also has a vocal assertiveness that fits in artistically well with the pushy rhythm section. “Sticks” Raczka drums with enough force to push this forward and, with Kokolis on bass, gives the groove meaningful bop.
Kula has some fun on “Let It Go,” singing about the struggles of everything from paying bills to everything going wrong at once. She injects into her lyrics portions of fairy tales to let you know she doesn’t think life is a fairy tale: “Itsy bitsy spider had to ride, when the rain washed her web away.” She starts out with a country backbeat and a hearty yee-haw. Andy “The Coot” Cote plays a faintly Nashville flavored take on barrelhouse piano, and guitarist Bruce Boucher pinches it up with snappy and precise licks. A relative named Sheryl Kula pumps out low end notes, keeping perfect time while kicking it forward with the strength of a mule.
“Five In The Morning” continues Kula’s interest in experimenting with country music. Cote does more fine honky tonk piano tinkling, and Boucher makes his notes echo with purpose. “So They Say” is her most aggressive number. It rocks right out. Kula is closer to belting here, and her band turns up the heat too. Cote does some spry organ playing and Terry Yetsko smacks the skin like a man on a mission.
Kula closes out strong, playing solo acoustic with “Fly Little Angel,” a song about advice her mother gave her growing up. Her purposeful vocal matches the honesty of her lyrics while she creates a large, deep sonic background. Only her vocal tones and chord strumming fill in the space.
FAINT GLIMPE was certainly an artistic success for Kula in 2000. It is an album with a lot of emotional depth brought forward with a wide palette of music colors, variety, and sheer talent.
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The power rock trio STARR FAITHFULL released their attention-grabbing CD KRANKLE in 2002. Krankle soon became an impressive calling card for this threesome of high caliber talent. The CD cover art shows an green toned x-ray of a broken ankle. The term actually came to the trio from another musician who invents his own music terminology when teaching guitar.
Starr Faithfull is a full band, each player holding up a cornerstone of the musical architecture. Frawlee sings in whispery purrs or aggressive growls and she plays a mean, driving guitar. Bass player Geoff Kornfeld and drummer A.J. Vallee don’t just augment Frawlee, they contribute to building sonic structures, adding colors, controlling dynamics.
Krankle opens with “Round Peg.” Its jumpy rhythms supporting front person Jodee Frawlee’s rallying cry for nonconformity.
“Everything Your Not” finds Frawlee applying gentle guitar notes, singing in a soft tone, all to create a smooth segue from one part of the song to the next. Her fetching vocal flows across the changes like artwork, something designed to move in a certain direction in collusion with other colors and shapes. Frawlee’s lead guitar solo unfurls with a majestic sweep that suggests a Brian May influence.
“Your Life” begins with dark, slamming chords and drum smacks that cleverly convey the theme. Frawlee’s voice glides through the chorus before she plays edgy, quirky, spiky notes. Her solo is icy cool and as precise as mathematics.
A bouncy rhythm guitar makes “Fast Asleep” dance with swinging feel. This slower tempo allows you to hear all the tasteful bass playing Geoff Kornfeld adds to the mix. Again, Frawlee’s guitar solo suggests a Brian May influence, bopping along with tight, compressed rhythms within her lead phrase. “Push” is a blistering attack augmented by adept drumming and low end thumping. The trio is tighter than anything when they rock out on the bridge.
A bitter regret song “Come Around” starts off with a playback of the trio having breakfast, bringing to mind a breakfast meeting heard on Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother CD. From there, it becomes the hippest tune on the CD. The trio take twists and turns in the groove so smoothly it’s insane. Frawlee’s breathy, controlled vocal purr pours forth with an understated grace that wins you over each time she glides through a verse or rasps through a chorus.
“Shining Star” is marked by punchy, snappy rhythms and a locomotive progression from soft dynamics to hard. Frawlee’s lead guitar solo soars ever upward in stature as it continues to the bridge. Vallee’s drum rolls and fills are tight and controlled and perfect. Listening closely to Geoff Kornfeld’s smooth run of low end notes is also a treat, moving his notes around like a chess master.
The heart wrenching stress of long distance relationships receives an honest examination in Frawlee’s lyrics on “Greetings.” The music plays out at an even keel that beautifully matches the even-tempered personality of the person receiving letters from a partner/musician out of the road. There is something Beatlesque in the vocal delivery while the guitar parts again have a somewhat Brian May influence.
The trio close out with a rocking instrumental “3 Sore Thumbs” that simultaneously showcases the trio’s individual talents and sold ensemble playing. This trio wouldn’t work if any of the three were replaced by a musician less than excellent. Tacked on at the end is “Round Peg(Sci-Fi Mombo Mix), producer Anthony J. Resta’s technological tweak of the CD’s opening track. Resta, who has worked with Collective Soul and Elton John and operates Bopnique studios, did an outstanding job of letting Starr Faithfull sound like Starr Faithfull while making their songs jump out of the speaker with clarity and force.
