THANKFULAaron PritchettOPM Records8-out-of-10In the realm of Canadian country there are lots of solid performers, but none rate much higher in terms of solo acts than Aaron Pritchett.
Give a listen to his latest disk Thankful and you will understand why.
This guy just has those smooth-as-silk vocals which make his music special. As they say this guy could sing a grocery list and make it sound good. It's just that he has a voice made for music.Surprisingly though it's not a voice which is memorable in some respects. Often the voices we best remember have a few warts, Waylon, and Johnny Cash coming to mind.
That said, every time you spin this disk you are going to be -- yes Thankful (I had to write it).There are some interesting takes on familiar themes too. Hell Bent For Buffalo is a love song which revolves around the theme of driving through a snowstorm. A bit out of season right now here, but something we can relate to as well.
The smooth vocals Pritchett offers up so easily does fit the love song, so he does offer up several cuts which track love in different ways, as example the radio-friendly Unraveling.Speaking of radio, September will get lots of airplay I would think. A nice tune.
The good news here too is that there are no weak spots, and with 13-songs that says something.Check him out at www.aaron-pritchett.com where he actually has a forums section to allow fans to interact. While forums are widely used on the Internet, it isn't often musicians and bands use them as a way to connect to fans and allow those fans interaction with each other. A nice bonus which shows Pritchett's support team is thinking about their followers.- CALVIN DANIELS
DARK AS THE NORTH ATLANTICFive Star Trailer ParkIndie8-out-of-10Last September I reviewed The Fight That Broke Your Heart from the Toronto-based band Five Star Trailer Park, and enjoyed the fact they were a rock band which played rock, not some derivative of the genre chasing a niche listening market.
Well the good news here folks is the band has stayed the course and are still just a good rock band,
There may be a touch more polish here than on the previous effort, but then again you would generally expect that based on the experience gained with the earlier disk.
Dark As The North Atlantic starts off with the solid Set Fire To Me, a catchy rock song.
The band shows a touch of Celtic heart, sort of a Captain Tractor-ish feel on Two Shots Across My Bow, the song from which the CD's title is drawn.
This disk is a little slower than the earlier work. Five Star has infused a bit more emotion into the work here. Where Were You? is an example of the passion of the album. A very solid cut. The song really shows off Nick Spence's vocals, the front man for the band.
The disk offers only eight songs, but they are a solid eight, and in a world were rock usually comes tinged in some fashion, this band is a great listen simply because you get lyrics you can hear vocally and music that has some rock passion to it.
The band is a six-piece unit, so there is a big sound when they want to put it out there.
Check them out at www.fivestartrailerpark.com- CALVIN DANIELS
Past reviews are archived online at http://calmardan.blogspot.com/
