{"id":14801,"date":"2018-07-06T05:30:57","date_gmt":"2018-07-06T09:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=14801"},"modified":"2020-07-13T08:33:12","modified_gmt":"2020-07-13T12:33:12","slug":"fifty-word-reviews-for-july-2018-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/06\/fifty-word-reviews-for-july-2018-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifty-word Reviews for July 2018, Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years now, I\u2019ve engaged in an occasional series of reviews in which I limit myself to 100 words. The point isn\u2019t at all to give short shrift to these fine releases; instead, it\u2019s to cover albums that would otherwise go unmentioned only for lack of time. Speaking of time, all of these releases are worth yours. But as I have less and less of that precious commodity, this time \u2018round I\u2019m slicing things in half, and doing my level best to describe what\u2019s special about these albums in not 100 but 50 words.<\/p>\n

\"\"Shirley Davis & the Silverbacks \u2014 <\/b>Wishes and Wants<\/b><\/i>
\nWe have the late Sharon Jones to thank for a welcome resurgence of neo-soul; today there\u2019s a plethora of fine artists in the style. British-Jamaican Davis has a powerful voice, and the band is superbly in the groove. Crackling horn work and tasty combo organ are among the many highlights.<\/p>\n

\"\"John Paul Keith \u2014 <\/b>Heart Shaped Shadow<\/b><\/i>
\nThis in-demand songwriter-guitarist is one of those rare musicians who truly transcends genre. This album is spot-on, and it really defies easy categorization. Americana? Roots-rock? Who knows, and ultimately, who cares? It\u2019s simply wonderful all around. Imagine if Nick Lowe had grown up in Memphis. Ace production by Scott Bomar.<\/p>\n

\"\"Fernando Perdomo \u2014 <\/b>Out to Sea<\/b><\/i>
\nPerdomo is perhaps L.A.\u2019s top musical utility man. He\u2019s astoundingly busy with countless concurrent projects. Nominally power pop, he\u2019s equally at home in prog, and that\u2019s where he is on this one-man-band project in which he plays tribute to progressive icons. He\u2019s an amazing mimic who writes superb original material.<\/p>\n

\"\"Barry Goldberg \u2014 <\/b>In the Groove<\/b><\/i>
\nUnassuming, soulful instrumental blues-rock defines this collection of new recordings from the celebrated keyboardist. Calling these dozen tracks \u201csongs\u201d might be stretching things a bit; as the title suggests, they\u2019re really grooves, jams, soulful meditations. They\u2019re more about vibe than anything else. Carla Olson of the Textones produced this set.<\/p>\n

\"\"Simon Love \u2014 <\/b>Sincerely, S. Love x<\/b><\/i>
\nTapete Records has some truly impressive, under-the-radar artists like Amy Rigby and Wreckless Eric. Simon Love is another; with an unapologetically Brtish vocal style, he draws from Beatles, Kinks, Squeeze and other artists who combine winning melodies with sharp, witty lyrical content. Listen and learn that Love\u2019s not dicking around.<\/p>\n

\"\"Roger Joseph Manning Jr. \u2014 <\/b>Glamping EP<\/b><\/i>
\nI hear you asking: \u201cIs this the long-awaited Jellyfish follow-up?\u201d Manning is a songwriter of stunning quality, but he\u2019s not a prolific solo artist; his last solo album was way back in 2008. But if you loved Spilt Milk<\/i> you are sure to melt when you hear these four tunes.<\/p>\n

\"\"Lisa Mychols \u2014 <\/b>Sugar<\/b><\/i>
\nThe album\u2019s retro packaging hints at what\u2019s inside. Sugar<\/i> is really a collaboration between the singer and Steve Refling, who co-writes, produces and plays all the instruments. Creamy vocal harmonies and knowing, timeless pop. If the Bangles and Smithereens were distilled into a duo, they might sound something like this.<\/p>\n

\"\"Rob Clarke and the Wooltones \u2014 <\/b>Big Night Out<\/b><\/i>
\nThis is a tidy collection of beat combo tunes; think Swingin\u2019 Blue Jeans, the band on the Backbeat<\/i> soundtrack and so forth. \u201cYou\u2019re Looking Good\u201d is listed as an original but it\u2019s clearly a thin rewrite of the Rutles\u2019 \u201cIt\u2019s Looking Good.\u201d Not a single original idea here, but fun.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"\"Diamond Hands \u2014 <\/b>Diamond Hands II<\/b><\/i>
\nIf Orgone Box had a little more Big Star influence, they might write and play songs like the ones found on Diamond Hands\u2019 second album. These shimmering tunes recall Byrds, Raspberries and Stories, just to pick the first three that came to mind. That should be enough to hip you.<\/p>\n

\"\"Brandy Zdan \u2014 <\/b>Secretear<\/b><\/i>
\nSwaggering rock \u2018n\u2019 roll with an emphasis on songcraft, this album seems to draw equally from acts like the Runaways, Blondie, Rubber Soul<\/i>-era Beatles and early \u201870s Rolling Stones. The vocal harmonies are great., and the guitars are aggressively in your face. I hope this gets the exposure it deserves.<\/p>\n

More to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For years now, I\u2019ve engaged in an occasional series of reviews in which I limit myself to 100 words. The point isn\u2019t at all to give short shrift to these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14809,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,9,31,49,51,55,56,62,65,69],"tags":[3478,3474,3163,3239,1130,3479,1259,3428,3476,3480,3477,3475],"class_list":["post-14801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-americana","category-blues","category-funk","category-new-release","category-pop","category-powerpop","category-prog","category-rawk","category-review","category-soul","tag-barry-goldberg","tag-brandy-zdan","tag-diamond-hands","tag-fernando-perdomo","tag-jellyfish","tag-john-paul-keith","tag-kool-kat-musik","tag-lisa-mychols","tag-roger-manning","tag-shirley-davis","tag-simon-love","tag-wooltones","cat-6-id","cat-9-id","cat-31-id","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-55-id","cat-56-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","cat-69-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14801"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19105,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14801\/revisions\/19105"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}