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The title of this album is "Help Is
On The Way," and the recording company issuing it is the
famous Latin incarnation of "In God We Trust." Well,
as much as I hate to say it, "The Help" didn't get
there fast enough, and somebody didn't pray hard enough. This
Disc is a sad and all-too-common case of a debut disc that takes
the artist's evident talent and muddles in a compost heap of
influences. Hence, the result is a poor-man's version of the
artist's influences, and a CD that shows nothing of the possibilities
of the recorder's talent. Unfortunately, it shows what good coasters
CD's can make for your table.
These fellows who record under the collective
moniker of "Duke Daniels," lead by singer-songwriter
Dan Clark, are not untalented at all. Their approach and choice
of material and creation of said material leave a LOT to be desired
however.
The opening cut, "Following A Star,"
has some catchy lyrics and introduces us to these folks' statement
of purpose - which seems to be to emulate a less- pretentious
R.E.M., a less cheeky They Might Be Giants, and perhaps a tad
more soulful Barenaked Ladies. Instead, all we get are people
who sound like they'd sure make a dandy cover band singing the
hits of those folks, because their own music misses ANY sort
of distinctive mark.
The opening cut is one of the strongest
(or least weak) on the disc, but it goes on longer than a certain
large Oriental Asian country's famous wall. "Emily"
is a whining mess; "Only One" has an intro so cheesily
and hackneyedly 70s'-ish I could barely stop laughing to listen
to the whole song; "Clarice," well, let's say she must
be Emily's sister.
Are these folks AWARE that the opening
to "Baby Please" is almost the intro of The Eagles'
one of these nights VERBATIM????? (If they did it might actually
work as an homage, but I'm afraid I cannot give these trying-too-
hard guys the benefit of the doubt.) "Time Flies" is
another interesting close-but-no-cigar tune that has better music
and lyrics than some of the bombs on this CD, but is still heinously
derivative (think R. E. M. via Sting).
"Rescue Me" describes how I felt
after having to listen to this album, and the ONLY possible winner
on the disc, "Mighty Lonely," has nice lyrics and a
haunting Jeff Buckley-esque beauty at its outset, but then the
beauty of the vocal is tainted with an annoyingly abrupt bass
line and a far- too-heavy production for the song's supposedly
intended intimacy.
The song with the best ALMOST wonderful
lyrics is "Calm Down," with its enigmatic first verse
that gives small hope that one is about to hear a mystery-story
song. However, the writer gets so caught up in trying to be evocatively
mesmerizing, he forgets to make the rest of the song make sense.
There are two more cuts on the end of the
disc, "Running on E" and "Find Some Love,"
but I'm sorry, this reviewer is a busy man and I've heard enough.
If someone finds out these last two songs are some sort of Messiah
to save this album let me know.
These people aren't horrible musicians.
The instrumentals are tight, and Mr. Clark's nifty, throaty whine
could probably kick some rear end with some good material. But
all I have to say is that the press material for this disc said
this disc's opening cut was the most added single to AAA radio
in a certain week . . . Must have been a slow week!
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