GERRY TULLY
ARTIST OF THE MONTH JULY 08
LEAVES FLOAT DOWN
ALBUM REVIEW
Gerry Tully from Meath in Ireland has put together fantastic piece of work, 13 tracks of pure entertainment.. you can hear heavy blues influences but Gerry hides it well with his Irish folk vocal and country blues riffs. “In Your Eyes” is the first track on the album it got the impression it could be a stunning tune to hit the Irish airwaves capping the likes of Paddy Casey and Declan O’Rourke.. Very catchy and superb lyrics. “News For You” with the special appearance of Don Baker on harmonica kicks and moves like a blue frog on a winter morning, lyrics are great and Don sounds fantastic on harp. great tune. “Thank You For Calling” has a nice balance a feel to the song it sounds a bit like Mundy "July".. but better… guitar sounds great and the lick adds a nice spiller to the track excellent stuff. like many songwriters of Gerry’s style in Ireland which is a cul de sac for this kind of sound I feel the USA would open arms to this guy and he may even get a hit or two over there.
Review by T.Halpin
RANK: ****** 6 out of 6
http://www.myspace.com/gerrytully1
GARDEN BLUE
Here is an Irish outfit with melodramatic vocals with deep tones and fantastic lyrics, you can hear deep Irish roots but very grunge in some parts of the music with slight hints of Garbage….. maybe Cardigans. The vocals are very well mixed in each track leaving me an inclusion to believe they are on to something big….
Review by T.Halpin
RANK: ***** 5 out of 6
http://www.myspace.com/gardenblueband
GOOD GRIEF
Back in the day (the early 70's and onwards) a family tree of blues oriented rock flourished in the singles and album charts with the likes of Free/Bad Company, Badfinger, Clapton, Steve Winwood, Alman Brothers et al - picking up the mantle of The Doors and Hendrix and making a sound more commercial, more muscular in approach, but still with earthy electric power. Some of these guys are still winding their way round the live circuit. I saw a rather well-wearing Paul Rodgers myself, only last year.
Good Grief lovingly recreate the sound of that golden age of hair and flare as only true fans of a genre could. They do it with reverence and without resorting to actually copying their forebears songs. There is absolutely no question, all concerned are clearly accomplished musicians and have created an excellent series of faithfully recreated blues-rock. You will find breadth and depth of quality musicianship on tracks such as 'All night long' (think Free's 'Alright now') and the Eagles-esque 'Tell me'. Luscious, soulful lead and backing vocals, and everything clinically and expertly put together, but here's the rub... Despite bold claims in the bio of "grit" "foot stomping" and "air guitar" I can't help being left with the impression that maybe, unless you are a fan of Californian soft rock say, it all sounds a bit anodyne and more Easy Listening than Easy Rider to me. My recollection of the Kossof, Rodgers era and the rest of British end of the deal was far more in your face, heavy and barnstorming. They were, after all, the early steps of heavy metal with some bare chests and whiskey soaked guitar solos... where as, Good Grief come across as extremely polite and clean cut in their homage. But don't get me wrong here, GG are a very pro band and do what they do extremely well. Maybe its me, maybe its the lightweight production or maybe the promise of big Hammond organs in the bio that strangely, get swamped in the mix, but the end result is much more Radio 2 than Radio Ga Ga. For my money, a remix of GG's current tracks with perhaps a large dose of added testicular fortitude and a little less polite veneer would really make me sit up and listen again, but for now its all a bit "Volvo" - that is to say, you know its good, but its just a wee bit bland.
Review by Drumhead
RANK: **** 4 out of 6
GRASSHOPPER
At the forefront of the current indie scene are NME darlings such as The View, The Pidgeon Detectives and several other bands with "The" in the name that are following in The Libertines shambling wake. They play 'mash-it-up' style of jingly guitar rock which often sounds almost ragged and has a 'recorded-in-one-take' vibe about it. Grasshopper are right in there with this particular sound and early listens shout The View at me. Songs such as 'Hey hey' and 'Made man'and 'Talk of the town' are eclectic bashy, trashy pieces of indie that are held together by some imaginative guitar interplay (sometimes in the face of some pretty noticeable and glaring timing issues) producing uptempo, 'of the moment' NME-like songs.
I will say right here and now that its not a style I'm a particular fan of (I think there's an element in this genre of style over substance but thats a debate for another day) but Grasshopper have the basics of some very, very good songs, however some of the recordings available to the public are woeful. Regardless of keeping your 'indie' credentials real, details like keeping in time and tune are actually quite important. If you play well together and the songs are good, it doesn't matter how its recorded if you're unsigned - but if you skimp on the basics it is self defeating. Interesting but very ragged.
Review by Drumhead
RANK:*** 3 out of 6
GRAEME CAMPELL
Another singer/songwriter? Yes sirree Bob. The one good thing about singer/songwiters is that you will always get a passion and honesty about what they do, and in most cases they're not following any particular herd. So it can be said of Graeme Campbell a guitar teacher by day and all round fine performer.
He has compiled an album 'Breaking out the blue day' (available on iTunes) a collection of personal soft rock songs that are well worth checking out. But wait, what's this, despite being a self proclaimed solo artist, apart from the guitar, there appears to be a decent little band and an awesome array of instruments appearing behind Mr Campbell... mysteriously, the only thing I can find on tinterweb is that Graeme is ''..entirely self produced and performed". If thats the case then you have to say, quite the man of many talents (although I'm guessing the female vocal on the excellent, Eastern style, 'Blue', might not be him). So, what do we have here. Graeme's voice gives a big nod in the direction to Springsteen and a series of excellently produced songs that ooze personailty and albeit it they are heavily influenced by the 70's/80's California stylings of say Neil Young or Creedance, they have a stamp all of their own. I
Graeme is a self confessed American-ophile from Essex, who is a worshipper at the altar of the country rock. There's no slavish following of trends, hairstyles, or trying to be a clone of someone else here. Despite that approach being a potential minefield of unfashionable areas, Graeme unapologetically makes his own, genuinely listenable and personal interpretation of what he loves to do, succesfully managing to avoid the potential pitfalls of over egging the 'Dad-Rock' pudding, if you want some good, honest home-cooked music, dive in and have try. Keep it you, Graeme
Personal faves; 'Blue', 'Picture
Review by Drumhead
RANK:***** 5 out of 6
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