You Heard it Here: New Artist Album of the Week
- Posted on February 12, 2007 3:59 PM
- 0 comments
Al Lewis "More Ways than One"
By Peter Coulston
I went to see Al Lewis at the Troubadour last week and this was the second time that I had the pleasure of hearing him at that venue. His live outings are usually solo or with a bass player. However, his album "More Ways Than One" is a very different story, with lots of people playing even more instruments to compliment the twelve excellent songs included on it. Unfortunately, the CD does not identify the musicians on each song so it is not possible to give any credits in that department.
Al opens the album with "All Good Things", a breezy number about going on a journey that he often uses to open his live sets. "Memories" is gentler with strong vocals and some nice keyboards. I should add at this stage that, with two exceptions that I am not qualified to judge, the lyrics are superb and available to read in the notes that accompany the CD. "Waiting for You" has very catchy hook and is certainly singles material. "Munich at the Bar" discusses the merits or not of one night stands, and is a bit more rocky than the previous tracks with some jazzy guitar. "Pulse" is a good ballad with a very attractive instrumental break and "I'll Be the Moon" is acoustic heaven, a very beautiful little piece.
"My Muse" is a rocky tribute to whoever inspired Al to write it, while "If Only" also rocks while praising the virtues of sun, summer and love; and not necessarily in that order, I'll bet. Back to gentle again with "Elle s'accroche", which features all kinds of nice acoustic instruments including accordion. This may seem a bit too obvious for a song written in french, but the fact is it works, and I love accordions. The title track rocks well with a strong melody and a good sax solo and could also be a singe. It tackles the age old breaking up syndrome well. "Y Rheswm" is in Welsh (isn't it?) and has a moody but catchy melody and some fine guitar. What a beautiful language! The CD finishes in style with an 8:45 minute epic that starts out acoustic and builds up to a finale of raging guitar and swirling organ, only to bring us down to earth at the last minute with some gentle piano. This one is a potential encore, for sure.
I have to say that I have been listening to this CD all weekend and enjoy it more each time. If you enjoy good songs, in varying styles, well performed, with the odd surprise, I strongly recommend that you give this a listen. You can contact Al via http://www.allewismusic.com
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