ECHO BROADCASTJohn RutherfordIndie8-out-of-10
The opening strains of Echo Broadcast, the single which doubles as the name of John Rutherford's debut CD hint at something just a little different from the norm.
By the time you get through the 11-song disk you realize what sets Rutherford and the disk apart from most performers is his vocal style.
It might be best described as a vocal approach owing much to the likes of Hoagy Carmichael, with a bit more gravel in the gullet.
Rutherford blends jazz, folk and blues and delivers it in a near conversational way laid over his music. It's a style which won't be for everybody, but I find it freshly different in an enjoyable way.
That conversational style is most evident on Bud's Guitar Store, a very nice story song. It's a good one.This is truly the music of a small dark, smokey bar.
A song such as Hoodoo Man drips with the dark waters of some bayou where the gators are big, and the zombies of some voodoo priest patrol the night. And yet, it is really a love song. Now that's simply cool. The cut is the best here, slightly better than the fine title cut.
Musically, Rutherford does some sweet things too, in particular on the funky Crows as Big as Airplanes.
This is a disk which impressed from start to finish. You can't go wrong searching this one out at www.johnrutherfordmusic.com
- CALVIN DANIELS
CAROUSELWorkhorse KingsIndie6.5-out-of-10
The Workhorse Kings are an alternative, blues, rock unit out of Illinois.
Their CD Carousel didn't start out as well as it could have. The song Let Me In is not the strongest on the disk. In fact the immediate reaction was sort of hoohum as the first song played.
No Explanation Necessary is a bit more upbeat and toe tapping, and that helps as a second cut, but the jazzy, sort of cruise liner lounge sounding effort is still far from the best cut.
Can't Look Back, the third song, a cut with something of a salsa flavour, finally gets the disk into a better vibe, although I fear some will have already abandoned the disk as sort of blase before getting this far into the music.
Certainly the Workhorse Kings are solid at their best, but there are still some soft spots here the listener has to endure to find the better cuts.
Songs like Waiting For Love work, and let lead singer Dan Dougherty be a bit angrier at the microphone and he benefits from that opportunity.
Overall, the disk is interesting in place, but falls short a bit too much to be a high recommendation.
Check them out at www.workhorsekings.com
- CALVIN DANIELS
Past reviews are archived online at http://calmardan.blogspot.com/
