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Music Reviews

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Victory e-Mag

Paul Chasman - Basics

12/16/2016

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Paul Chasman
Basics

Self-produced
Released: 2012
www.paulchasmanguitar.com

Guitar picker Paul Chasman turned a new musical corner by delving into the craft of songwriting in his most recent CD. Basics was recorded entirely live, without overdubs, at Kung Fu Bakery Studios in Portland, OR. While long known for his guitar playing, he makes his debut here as a vocalist and there’s a lot of joy that shines through his voice on these songs. Chasman is quite the showman. He creates elaborate accompaniments with hot guitar leads and backup, plus harmonica on several cuts, which makes the live presentation all the more impressive since he is singing with great gusto at the same time. His vocals are a little rough around the edges, now and then straying from the pitch, but his voice is pleasant and his phrasing is expressive.

Chasman discovered he had a knack for writing lyrics while he was recovering from hand surgery. He became quite prolific in a short period of time, turning out these 16 songs and recording them within the next year. He brings humor and a perceptive edge to topics like population, racism (Ballad of Muhammad Ali), the environment, wolves, politics (Free Nation Blues) and death (“Well, it’s ashes to ashes and it’s dust to dust; nothing is free, just one guarantee, it’s a short stretch from dawn to dusk; you can’t walk, run, hide or crawl, when your number is called”). Styles range from country blues to folk fingerpicking to light jazz (Water Song), and his guitar cries the blues on Song for the Wolf. His playing stands out on every track, but is especially sweet on I Don’t Have the Blues, Meat and Potatoes (the only instrumental), This Guitar, and one of my favorites, I’m Just Sayin’ (“Kinda like Egypt, kinda like Iran, a woman’s fate is decided by man. No matter if you’re 12 or the father’s unknown, you’d better have that baby, then you’re on your own, but I’m just sayin’… The truth’s not always what they claim, ‘cause if you really value life, you’ll care for who remains. I don’t mean to complain, I’m just sayin’…”).

Sometimes Chasman delivers his song in character, as in I’m So Special that tells the truth about life with cats (“It’s 3 in the morning, wake up ‘cause I want to go out! You open the door but now I am having some doubts. I’ll let you know if I decide to go… Just stand there and wait, while you I berate, go fill up my plate (not with that stuff I hate, never mind, it’s too late!), I’m off to the rug to throw up everything I just ate… I’m so special…”).

Basics is a witty, clever and entertaining collection of songs. Chasman’s fans will enjoy the abundance of good guitar music throughout, and the audio quality is excellent considering the challenges of live recording. A suggestion for the future would be to include lyrics either with the CD or on the website.

          Heidi Muller

          December 2013

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 Gloria Darlings - Come Home to Me

12/16/2016

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​Gloria Darlings
Come Home to Me
Self-produced
Released June 2013
www.thegloriadarlings.com

This CD is a charming and delightful listen through nine originals and two covers by Seattle-based Melissa Jane Pandiani (Pandi) and Amelia Boksenbaum (Milly Raccoon). Recorded at Empty Sea Studio by Michael Connolly, who also plays upright bass, the production is true to their performances with Pandi on guitar, Milly on fiddle and mandolin, and both on crystal clear lead and harmony vocals. 

It’s remarkable how well matched these two women are in both their songwriting and vocal skills. They both write creative, whimsical songs in a blend of Americana, folk and old-style country with a hint of old-time Appalachian and bluegrass. Their harmonies are sometimes as close as the Everly Brothers and other times move apart unexpectedly. Their ethereal voices are perfect for their quirky and interesting lyrics that range from reporting on the ups and downs of love to introducing mythical characters.

One of my favorites is Pandi’s upbeat song, Ghost Girl:
    “Fresh off the train from heartbreak city, as a ghost girl I come into Nashville town /
     First outlaw I see comin’ with his licorice lover’s lies, /
     I’ll draw my pistol and I’ll cut him down… /
     My heart it bleeds, can’t get no sleep, I must remind myself to breathe now and then /
     I’m dustin’ off my knees and I’m headed east, and I’m never gonna hurt like this again.”

No Buying Time by Milly sets uncommon lyrics to an old-fashioned country melody:
    “I’m an animal, so stay away, don’t lie your lies to me /
     I’m an alien and I’m leaving soon, there’s no buying time with me… /
     I’ve got hidden swords all over me, I’m a fortress of disease /
     I’ve got hidden songs and haunting dreams, I’m gone so mote it be.”

Little Bunny by Milly is a barnburning instrumental featuring the fiddle in a minor key with some interesting chord progressions. Jack of the Wood by Pandi is a happy, hoedown kind of song driven again by Milly’s old-timey fiddle bow. They even break into Whiskey Before Breakfast right in the middle of it. 
    “Well he opened up his hand and released a firefly /
     Took me to his dwelling up along the mountainside /
     Asked me for forever and I wondered if I could, then he cast his shade on another maid, Now we call him Jack of the Wood.”

Of the two covers, my favorite is the Louvins’ Hide and Seek. The vocals are sweet and high-energy, and the guitar, mandolin, fiddle and bass keep our toes tapping. 

The Gloria Darlings have played at festivals and concerts and busked nationwide. Their sound is a little raw instrumentally, reminiscent of a street show. Milly’s strength is on the fiddle, seeming more comfortable playing leads on it than on mandolin, where there are issues of timing and leaving lead phrases not quite complete. Pandi is a strong guitar strummer and a smooth fingerpicker. This new CD should put these two artists on the map with their endearing, down-home and innovative music.

          Heidi Muller 
          December 2013

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Dick Weissman - Near And Far

12/16/2016

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Dick Weissman
Near and Far
Self-produced
Released: April 2013
www.dickweissman.com


Dick Weissman is an accomplished performer, instrumental composer, songwriter, recording artist, author and educator. Active in the Portland, OR music scene for ten years, he recorded this CD there but relocated to Denver during the summer. His new CD, Near and Far, showcases his latest collection of original music written primarily for banjo and guitar, plus a few songs with vocals. These 16 tracks are produced mostly on the simple side with a number of solos and innovative duets with oboe, English horn, oboe d’amore (all played by Mitch Imori) or soprano sax (played by Noah Peterson). Weissman contributes his own versatile talent on banjo, banjola, 6- and 12-string guitars, electric guitar, piano, and tiple. Mollie O’Brien makes several guest appearances as a lead and harmony vocalist. She shows up partway through Brazilian Banjo Rag doing a wonderful, whimsical scat, and takes the lead on Oklahoma (Carry All My Tears Away), the only song that is fully produced with 12-string guitar, drums, bass (Ron Bland) and harmonica (Dan McCrimmon). Weissman sings lead on A Cup of the Blues and shares vocals with Harry Tuft and O’Brien on the sweet waltz-time song, Take This Letter.


Weissman’s music evokes gentle moods with the quietness of his solo playing, from the intricate banjo picking on Trail Ridge Variations interwoven with English horn, to his arpeggiated fingerstyle guitar on Angeology, a beautiful romantic piece written in memory of friend and Journeymen bandmate, Scott McKenzie. Recapturing Trail Ridge starts out with thoughtful, soft, melodic passages on solo banjo and then picks up the energy with frailing before closing with melody again. Stuart and the Blue Goose has a toe-tapping, old-time Appalachian feeling, written for the fine banjo player Stuart Jamieson, who died in 2008. Banjo Duende is a unique and impressive solo banjo piece with a strong flamenco theme. One of my favorite tunes is Sami & Dave, written with two different themes for his two blue heelers who had vastly different personalities. It changes mood from the prim, proper and reflective melody accompanied by oboe d’amore, to releasing all that pent-up energy into rollicking strums and rolls just like a bouncing, happy puppy.

At the end of the CD is a final track, About the Music, where Weissman gives a brief background for each song. This is a nice touch, and it gives us a sense of knowing the artist better through hearing his friendly voice speaking straight to the listener.

           Heidi Muller
       
December 2013

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Stefanie Robbins - Welcome Her Back

12/5/2016

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Stefanie Robbins
Welcome Her Back
Self-Published, 2016
www.stefanierobbins.com

I've traded notes on songwriting with Seattle singer-songwriter Stefanie Robbins at the Beacon Hill Songwriters' Circle, so she invited me to her CD release concert and asked me to write a review of Welcome Her Back. Her new album is quite the professional production. She likes a touch of sentimental country slide behind her big voice and effective chord changes, and the polished band obliges. You can hear bits of Carole King, Stevie Nicks, and Dolly Parton in Stef's songwriting and Eric Miller's arrangements.

When Stef is anthemic she can sound defiant, as when she celebrates a wilder "her" tucked inside herself in the title song Welcome Her Back. Other times she's rhapsodic. I'm guessing that Eric Miller's detailed arrangements bring out her grander side, as in the gorgeous overdubbed outro at the end of Carried Away, where multiple Stefanies emulate the effect of letting herself tumble in and out of love. I'm not sure, however, that Eric's efforts can find much new in Let My Cards Show (an image trademarked by Kenny Rogers), or sort out the planetary metaphor of Constant One (it's hard to improve upon John Donne imagining his spouse the "fixed foot" of a compass that "makes me end where I begun.")

​Stef trying to push questions out of her mouth as fast as she can while young Sedona is still there to hear them. Sedona is struggling to fend off a hard loneliness that Stef recognizes. Perhaps she remembers perfectly well her own impatience with such nosy questions just a few years back while she was on the street. Yet now she's in the position of asking Sedona those very same questions because she cares about her, worries that she will be hurt or disappear. And in songwriting as well, the more intimately the song yields to the complex gestures of the singer's spoken voice. That's what Joni Mitchell was doing when she began a song with the spoken phrase "No regrets, Coyote" ― turning that sassy line into a moment of theater. I hope that Stef will continue to feel comfortable writing songs in her own personal voice, and peppering them to taste with remarks directed at particular people.

The night of her CD release show, I asked Stef "Where are we welcoming you back from?" and she answered "Myself." That's an intriguing answer.


   - Hank Davis (edited for brevity; full review here)

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