Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

Looking for the next John Mayer or Jack Johnson?  Well I've ruled one guy out for you.  Caught Looking, the album by Greg Roth attempts to be sweet, quirky and contemplative but he misses the mark by about 5 years of practice and training.  This guy is just another dude who wants people to listen to him but doesn't have the chops to deserve it.

Greg Roth's songwriting is adequate. He doesn't make very interesting or even musically pleasing choices.  In fact, many of his songs end up sounding the same: mumbled verse, chorus with backup, guitar solo, random placement of an odd instrument etc.   Granted, he tries hard to vary it up and be creative with songs like I've Only Got a Minute, a song that, gasp!, only lasts a minute.  And the lyrics are not simple or cliché but they aren't amazing either.   These attempts to make his songs something special come off as gimmicky.  He's trying to have a sense of humor but I'm not laughing.  Often times it's just campy music.

The song The Sound of Your Voice solidified my dislike for this album.  The lyrics are not what you would expect from the title of the song.  The chorus is: "I hate the sound of your voice," repeated several times.  After listening to Caught Looking I can tell you that Greg Roth doesn't have the right to tell someone that their voice annoys them (let alone write a song about it).  Although I'm against auto tune, I'm surprised that no one suggested to Roth that he might want to use it.  Or he could have re-recorded the songs where he doesn't quite hit the right note.  Maybe he wanted it to sound authentic but finding beauty in imperfection doesn't work in this case.  What it comes down to is that he has an amateur- sounding voice but he obviously doesn't think so because he sings the songs that MIGHT be better if someone else was singing them.   You can tell that his eerily scratchy voice is supposed to be seen as sexy but the sound, to my ears, is not even tepid.

Overall Caught Looking was too awkward for enjoyment.  The average to bad songwriting and the sounds that just don't mesh, particularly the lead voice, don't fade away after a few listens.  Maybe down the line Greg Roth will put out something better but for now he as some stuff to work on.