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"Sweeter Than Wine" are guitarists
and singers Dawn Mastro and Denise Blake, who got together as
an acoustic duo in 1985. They made "Breathe" with numerous
other musicians, most notably Amy Blaze (percussion) and Jon
Peckman (drums and percussion), who often join them on stage.
John Boyle supplies flute on a number of tracks. "Breathe"
is their second CD, preceded by "The Wine List" in
1994. Their music is influenced by "Heart" and "Fleetwood
Mac."
The graphics on this self-produced album
are quite good. The package looks better than most of the Indie
label CD's I get. The cover photo of Dawn and Denise draws you
into their world even before listening to the album. I particularly
like their warning on the back of the album, "Unauthorized
duplication invites bad karma."
Track one, "On the Horizon,"
opens with soft guitar and drums. The relaxed melody draws the
listener into the song. Blake's vocals and lead guitar are engaging.
The lyrics are well written, with cutting imagery, telling the
story of a man who can't commit. "Like the moon begs the
ocean to crawl onto the shore/ I've been pulled to you/ And a
moth that's been kissed by a thousand death flames before/ I've
been burned by you. . ."
Mastro sings "Lost and Found,"
a song about rekindling or maintaining an old relationship. One
doesn't get the feeling that maintaining it is necessarily a
good idea, as the song is downbeat. It's a slow song, with a
flute solo at its center, and the guitar work sounds a bit Spanish.
"Train," sung by Blake, has a blues influence with
overtones of country. It's about moving on with life, despite
its challenges. The easy, up beat suits the subject matter "All
the patience in the world/ Can't calm my aching soul/ Or rid
me of the trouble/ I have come to know/ It's like I got a mission/
To break free from the chains/ And to focus on the living/ Instead
of digging up remains."
"Back To You" opens with a soft
acoustic introduction. Though it's really a toss up which vocalist
is better, I find I prefer Mastro's voice. She shines on this
song. It's at this point it becomes apparent that Blake changes
her lead guitar style depending on the needs of the song. She's
quite good. Through images she tells the story of a world gone
mad with sickness and hate, yet complaining only comes "back
to you." Blake shifts to a countrified style for "Waiting."
Choppy flute forms a backdrop, which only distracts. The song
doesn't suffer completely for it, since its up beat pulls me
along anyway. Waiting for life to come, instead of seeking it
out, is the song's topic.
My favorite song on the album, "Running
Wild," features Mastro on vocals. Speedy guitar notes lead
into the song, bringing an urgency to the message. Blake's lead
has Spanish overtones to it, complementing the bongo drum percussion.
A short guitar part is lifted from an old "Heart" song,
but is nearly unrecognizable, given "Sweeter than Wine's"
different approach to the rest of this song. It took me a long
time to pick it up. During the refrain, backing vocals bounce
back and forth from speaker to speaker, creating a fitting sense
of movement.
"Change Is On The Wind" begins
with a deep blues guitar line. Blake's vocals come on strong
with the refrain "Change is on the wind/ It'll blow you
around until/ You face the truth again/ Don't you see. . ."
The music also changes, becoming more up beat. It's a successful
transition to fit the music to what the words are doing. The
organ seems a bit heavy in places, sounding a bit over dramatic,
but mostly it works. A whole cast of guest musicians contribute
a horn section on "Passion Game." It's a great song,
but the horns dominate a bit too much. It's about a relationship
where one person won'tcommit fully to anything.
Another high point of the album is "Taxi
to L. A." Mastro's vocal is flawless over the soft acoustic
guitar that opens the song. As the song progresses, percussion
and electric guitar spark the song. It's about being stuck in
a routine; trying to break out despite fears. "The Spanish
Song" is, of course, in Spanish. The quick Spanish sounding
rhythm, supplied by Amy Blaze's bongos and Blake's lead guitar,
is infectious. Blake's vocal is engaging.
A Knopfleresque lead guitar on "People,"
twangs to a slow but driving drum beat. It degenerates into a
"Doors" influenced section midstream. The two styles
mesh well, showing Blake's skill on the guitar. Being tired of
the world and its liars is the theme here. "One Lonely Dream"
is influenced by a sixties' sensibility, calling back a style
that reminds me of "The Mamas and the Papas." Soft
acoustic guitar meshes with brushes on drums for an intimate
softness, with a pleasant saxophone solo added about two thirds
into the song. The song is about a struggling relationship, fraught
with power games.
Two bonus tracks end the album with a bang.
"Monster" is by far one of the most interesting and
gutsy songs on the album. It opens with a surreal guitar twang
followed by deep reverberating electric guitar. Blake's vocal
is distorted and nearly ugly. This song sends "REM's"
"Monster" running to hide under the bed. It's simply
awesome. The monster here is AIDS. The images used to describe
the nineties dating situation are intense. "You can't put
your shovel in my pail any more/ Not until I find out where it's
been before/ We used to roll around and get the sand stuck to
our cheeks/ But now we use a microscope to check between the
sheets. . ."
The final track is an old Lithuanian folk
song (as they introduced it in the
show, though I don't believe old Lithuanians had the Dunkin'
Donuts mentioned in the backing vocals.) Blake sings the lyrics
with a false Lithuanian accent that brings humor to the tune.
I found these two songs quite refreshing, as "Sweeter Than
Wine" seemed to let their hair down and cut loose on them.
"Sweeter than Wine" certainly
show themselves to be deserving of a recording contract with
"Breathe." I find myself listening to the album frequently.
That doesn't always happen, even when I like an album. They're
definitely worth a second look. |
