Cheevyjames’ Musical Roundhouse

Released: 2008
Tracks: Typical Hey Day; Somewhere in Between; Senseless; Fade Away; Nothing and Everything
Best track: Senseless or Somewhere in Between
Track to skip: none, everything’s great on here

Liz finally found time to record an EP and it came out earlier this year.  I’m really psyched to get something else from her, even if it is only 5 songs.  Jeez, what a taster.  I never want this CD to end and I frequently just listen to it on repeat.  All 5 of these songs are so well-written and really show off her considerable song writing ability.  The music has a base of pop music, but it expands considerably from there.  It’s easy for her to reach into the “soul” aspects of her music because her voice is so strong.  She’s a powerful singer and she brings out a lot of emotion.  I like that Liz doesn’t over-sing, even though I know she could stoop down to that if she wanted to.  She reigns in her voice, but also lets it all out just enough to knock you off your feet.

I really love the twists and turns that Liz writes into her songs.  She’s certainly not afraid to show off her chops, but it’s never to the detriment of the song.  It’s great that she doesn’t just stick to “conventional” guitar chords and she’s not afraid to experiment with her playing.  As much as I love Liz’s voice and guitar playing, I always come back to her songs and how great they are.  Typical Hey Day is a great opener and it sets the mood perfectly for this EP.  It’s a funky song with a great groove and it encapsulates the way Liz approaches music.  It’s both funky and relaxed, serious and care-free all the while laying it all out there.  I love that walk-down to the chorus.  Oh yeah, and it’s got some stellar finger-picked guitar.   Somewhere in Between has this absolutely kick ass chordal change in the chorus that makes me just go “hell yeah!”.  This might be my favorite song on the album…but then comes Senseless and I’m blown away again.  Liz  brings out the horn section for this (also featured in Typical Hey Day) and she completely changed this song from the demo version into this supped-up Latin jam fest.  Tremendous song and a seriously great jam.  I have to say, I really love that “king/upon” line in this one.

These first three songs are so incredible and even though I love both Fade Away and Nothing and Everything, these two can’t match the quality of the first three.  Nothing and Everything is a fairly standard ballad and while it’s the “least best” on here, it’s still a great song.  Not necessarily a great song to end the album with…it really sounds like something should follow it.  The placement could have been better for this one.  Fade Away brings out the horns again and features a nice 6/8 groove with a slight bit of heaviness.  Great vocals from Liz on this one.

Honestly, my only beef with this is that it’s just too damn short.  It’s not even 20 minutes long and I would have no problem loving a 60-minute album from Liz.  I hope that she can record a full-length album next time around.  I think it easy to find a band or singer that you love and say that they “should be famous”.  Maybe I’m delusional, but I really think that most people would love this music as much as I do.  With her voice, guitar playing and especially her songs, I honestly think Liz Williams is destined for greatness.  Hey, you might as well get in at the beginning so you’ll get to enjoy it for longer.

Rating: 94

Released: 2008
Tracks: Runaway Jim; Free; Reba; Dog Faced Boy; Catapult; Split Open and Melt; Carolina
Best track: Split Open and Melt or Reba
Tracks to skip: Free, Dog Faced Boy, Catapult

Overall this is a pretty good collection and a good bonus CD.  The vast majority of  the disc is taken up with 3 songs: Runaway Jim (31 minutes!), Reba (15 minutes) & Split Open and Melt (also 15 minutes).  That right there is over an hour.  Yeah, the 31 minute Runaway Jim does get a bit tedious, but it becomes interesting roughly half way through where they go into a long psychedelic section and sing about how the dog is “so far from home” and making repeated calls for him to come back.  Pretty spacey, but also cool and unexpected on my end since I’d never heard them do that before.  Still, 31 minutes is a lot of song to sit through.

I think both Reba and Split Open and Melt fare better and the 15 minutes for each isn’t too long at all.  They did a great transition “>” from Runaway Jim into Free.  The thing about this version of Free is that while musically it’s good, the vocals are awful.  Especially all of the group vocals (which is 90% of the vocal part) – They’re just really off and the vocals are painful to listen to.  You know, I’ve never heard them sound good on a live version of this song.  I guess the harmonies are hard to pull off or they didn’t practice it enough.  Either way, it totally ruins the version here.  As for Dog Faced Boy and Catapult, they’re really unnecessary.  Not the greatest songs anyway, their only purpose here is to lead into Split Open and Melt.  Thus, I skip.

The real treat for me on this disc is the inclusion of an a capella version of Carolina, which naturally gets a rousing response.  I mean, it was recorded in North Carolina after all.  It was first released by the band on Live Phish 10, but since I don’t have that, this was my first time hearing them sing it.  Man, when they do this barbershop stuff they sound great; too bad they couldn’t sound like that on Free.

This is a fun disc and it’s a nice souvenir, esp. for someone who was at any of these Walnut Creek shows.  Honestly, it’s not one I pull out very often.  There are better versions of these songs from other live Phish CDs where the whole package is good.  Still, it’s fine enough and I’m sure most people who got this with the DVD are happy with it.

Rating: 81

Released: 2008
Tracks: Snooze Bar; Casual Lie Day; Greasy Wheel; Cost of Doing Business; Blind Sideways; Life Story; Cave Dweller; Play Hard; Love Terror Adrenaline/Break Through; Thanks in Advance; From Nothing
Best track: Love Terror Adrenaline/Break Through
Track to skip: none

Once again Beller assembles top notch musicians to make his compositions sound as good as they can. Most of the guys on this album are familiar names if you have View – Rick Musallam, Griff Peters, Joe Travers, Toss Panos, Mike Keneally. The first two tracks feature players from Nashville, not Southern California, and they really bring out different aspects of the songs. I love the way this album starts with Snooze Bar and Casual Lie Day. They have more of a jazzy feel and the “backing band” is stellar. After that, with one exception, the core of the band consists of Beller with Musallam/Peters on guitar and Travers/Panos on drums. I love all of these guys as musicians certainly; I just think that Bryan plays it safe by having the same players on his albums. He knows these guys and plays with them all the time – of course he feels comfortable with them. It shows in the performances. It’s just a bit weird to have the first two tracks break new ground in a way, and then for the rest of the album things go back to how they were on his first album. It’s really a minor complaint, but it affects the feel of the album.

I’m glad that Mike Keneally only makes one appearance on this album. That’s not because of his talent or anything, as I’m a huge MK fan. I like that Bryan Beller is stepping out from Keneally’s shadow and isn’t depending on him to “sell the album”. Bryan shows that he doesn’t need Keneally to make kick ass music. Sure, it’s gonna be great when he IS there, but it’s not essential. I think it’s an important step for Bryan, moving into a place that’s a little less comfortable. Keneally’s lone appearance is on the epic Love Terror Adrenaline/Break Through along with monster drummer Marco Minnemann. Rick Musallam plays rhythm guitar on this track, but it’s really about the other three guys. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that once again the best track is the “epic” song. On View it was Eighteen Weeks and here it’s definitely Love Terror Adrenaline. Not only is the care in composition evident, but Keneally and Minnemann just demolish this piece. Beller does some excellent fretless work here too. The playing is ferocious on this song and I was honestly spent after going through it. It’s the best thing Bryan’s written so far.

Some other highlights: Bryan does 3 or 4 bass solos on this album (I’m glad it’s not overkill) and I think my favorite is the one in Blind Sideways. There’s this one lick he does, it sounds like tapping – very cool. Cave Dweller is anchored by this really cool heavy riff and I love it when they just groove on it at the end of the song. Play Hard is the only vocal track on the album and it’s a great song. It perfectly summarizes the mindset of guys who go to bars solely to pick up women and treat it as a game. The line, “I’m entitled to the world” nails this. It’s clearly not a serious song, he’s not saying that he does this and condones this, but it’s really humorous to see it so starkly presented from a guy’s point of view. Plus the song freakin’ rocks and it’s great to sing along with.

On the whole I think Thanks in Advance is a better album than View. Bryan’s become a better composer and band leader and there’s a lot more confidence here. All of the tracks are solid and hearing this makes me excited for the next one – hopefully we won’t have to wait another 5 years. A special edition of this is available through bryanbeller.com that includes a DVD with a TON of “making of” footage. More than you could ever dream of. The DVD rocks and is well worth the extra money.

Rating: 94

It may not seem like it (since I don’t do them often enough), but I really do think about the album reviews for this site quite a bit. Probably more than is healthy. Since it’s the end of the year and there’s the usual “album of the year” stuff that I (and everyone else) do, I got to thinking about the 2008 releases and which one could be the best one. I thought how incredibly lame it is for me to proclaim some album to be “best of the year” when I didn’t officially review it here. Lame! My standard operating procedure since I started doing reviews back in 2002 has been to start from a band’s beginning and move up chronologically. My reasoning for this was to chart a band’s progress through their career and from album to album, in order. There’s a problem, though. It means that if, for example, Iron Maiden had released a new album this year…my review of it won’t come for a few years down the road. Being that I’m only up to 1986 with those guys anyway.

In light of this odd fact (because I should be reviewing new releases in a timely way) I’ve decided that whatever releases come out in a new calendar year that I’ll have them reviewed within 3 months of me obtaining the album. I think that’s fair and also enough time to digest everything. Hopefully. That’s my aim, anyway. So, I’m going to try to review all of my 2008 releases in the next few days and then I’ll work forward from there. FYI, Bryan Dunn’s new album will be considered a “2009″ release as it hasn’t officially been released. I have an advance copy so I’ll wait until closer to the proper release date. As for Davíd Garza’s Dream Delay – I’m going to wait a few months on that one. It’s not quite sitting right with me (yet?) and I want to give it more of an honest shot before panning it.

As for my Album of the Year? If we’re allowed to include reissues, then hands down it goes to The Mongol Beach Party’s Toast: reburn. It sounds absolutely phenomenal. I’m not convinced that reissues deserve to get that award, so I choose Liz Williams’ Senseless. I reviewed it earlier and I will be posting that in a little while. Tough decision, but I absolutely love it and think it’s better than any other new release from this year. Highly recommended.

Back to reviews I go.