Susan Cattaneo goes for broke with magnum opus The Hammer And The Heart album
There are times when an artist has to move forward in a big way. Boston’s roots singer-songwriter Susan Cattaneo went for broke and recorded a double disc CD set. This new album, The Hammer & The Heart, teeming with quality songs and high octane guest musician and singers, should be a huge artistic success, the kind that will gain her new respect and awe from listeners. From the larger movements of sound to the more subtle nuanced touches, Cattaneo paints a large, masterfully portrait of the American landscape while injecting her own personal points of view with an honestly that sometimes soothes and sometimes stings.
Yoko Miwa Trio outdo themselves with bopping Pathways album
Yoko Miwa Trio’s latest album Pathways finds the youthful Boston area jazz pianist, composer, arranger offering four of her original compositions as well as four thoughtfully considered arrangements of other artists’ work. Miwa and her band play these pieces with more crackling energy and with more of a bopping charge than they played on previous discs. Instead of offering merely a treat for the ears and minds with sophisticated jazz, the trio play jazz that can make one snap his fingers, tap his toes, and bob his head, all at the same time.
Rick Drost offers much to the heart, soul, and mind on debut album Turning The World
Rick Drost just dropped his engaging and interesting folk album Turning The World, and it’s hard to stop listening to his gently, quietly appealing songs. This Cambridge, Massachusetts-based folk songsmith has been writing and singing his own songs since his college days in the 1960s. Yet, this is actually his first solo album of his own material, and, as he’s no longer a young fellow, all we can wonder is what took him so long.
The GroovaLottos have a blast with Ask Yo Mama on “Black Ass Radio.”
The GroovaLottos’s debut album is called Ask Yo’ Mama, and the music, lyrics, and their humor between the music has as much attitude and spunk as that title. I’m not sure that the fictional radio station “Black Ass Radio” that ties most of the album together could ever get on the air in real life. But The GroovaLottos’s should certainly be getting some air play for these funky, jazzy compositions.
Mike Gacek offers fantastic material on The Music To The Words I Write
Mike Gacek’s honest, heart-felt reflections on his personal life result in his most lyrically and musically inspired work ever. Not only does everything on his new The Music To The Words I Write album sound good, it makes the listener feel good by reaching something deep inside the listener with its soulful depth and worldly wise perspective. A little help from fellow singer-songwriter Neal Ward goes a long way toward the fulfillment of these songs.
Adam Ezra Group, their fans make successful Hurricane Wind album
Adam Ezra Group’s latest album Hurricane Wind was an interactive recording project with their fans. AEG posted tracks as they were recording them during the various stages of development, and the fans chose which tracks made the album. It is not surprising that this very audience friendly band would let their fans choose the final tracks. As the fans are quite familiar with the bands music after years of faithful following, it’s also no surprise the fans did a fine job of winnowing the album down to the finest tracks. Having pop superstar John Oates along for the ride on three track certainly didn’t hurt. It’s one of the band’s best recordings ever.
Susan Ursprung dazzles the ear, soothes the soul with Cradle In The Waves album
Susan Ursprung recently released her Cradle In The Waves CD to a very appreciative fan base. This album has a lot to offer her listeners. Ursprung not only has a lovely voice that she displays with an artful, tasteful self-restraint and musical self-discipline, she fills in the colors of her original songs with a host of unusual instruments and some usual instruments used in usual ways. A beautiful voice augmented by beautiful melodies and engaging patterns fleshing out some very interesting lyrical themes makes for a fantastic listening experience.
Live: The Grog Sessions 1997 is fine document of the legendary, ongoing Newburyport blues jam
Parker Wheeler and Fly Amero with Tom T.H. Hambridge & Friends recorded this disc Live: The Grog Sessions 1997 to document what was going on during the first decade of this now 27 year old Sunday night blues jam. Combining the talents of Wheeler, Amero, and Hambridge with several other New England blues scene notables resulted in numerous Sunday nights of fantastic music. This 12 track disc, as good as it is, serves up only a slice of the quality music served up in the Newburyport, Massachusetts venue. These old recordings were recently discovered and put on this recently released
Barry Goudreau’s Engine Room moves Full Steam Ahead with gripping new album
Barry Goudreau returns to top form with his latest project Engine Room. His creativity and his manner of expressing it come across in fully realized, three dimensional songs that are much more interesting than the material he recorded with that other band out of Boston in the 1970s. The Engine Room debut CD, titled Full Steam Ahead, is also much better crafted and much more evolved than the album Goudreau made a few years ago with the car salesman. Somebody must have added a turbo shot to Goudreau’s coffee because this lead guitar man plays like a streaking meteorite that’s never coming down.
Lil’ Shaky And The Tremors release dynamite Aftershock album
Chris Vachon’s side project Lil’ Shaky And The Tremors have released a dynamite CD titled Aftershock. It’s an appropriate title because once a listener gets to the end of the album, he’s likely to be in awe of the way the band handles classic blues, soul, and R&B material. Vachon, bassist-vocalist Ed Wright, drummer Larr Anderson, and keyboardist Jeff Ceasrine each have tremendous credentials and this super group knows how to combine their talents in a fine interplay to milk the creative juices of each. There’s also 14 guest musicians who help the quartet keep this recording in the big league of musical endeavors
