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Non-Prog CD Reviews

Meredith O'Connor

Meredith O'Connor EP

Review by Gary Hill

The easiest answer to describing this album would be to compare it to Taylor Swift. That would be the lazy way to describe it, though. Sure, there are definitely comparisons to be made. But this really stretches over quite a bit of musical territory. Each song has a unique and powerful identity. This is a great set of music. The only real complaint is that, I wish there was more to it. The four songs leave me wanting to hear more from O’Connor. She’s certainly got material here that would work well on pop radio, but everything is meaty and her songs and performances show a lot of passion and versatility.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2013  Volume 2 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review
Celebrity

The keyboards that wash over the introduction here have an almost progressive rock vibe to them. The main song, though, is a mid-tempo pop rock number. This is quite modern and the kind of thing that would be quite at home on pop radio. That said, it doesn’t suffer from the auto-tune and artificial stuff that’s so common in pop “music” these days. That makes this much better than most of that pop stuff. It’s real music. The angry lyrics are catchy. That keyboard sound really dances over the top of the later parts of this. That’s a nice touch.

14 Miles

There’s sort of an alternative rock meets psychedelia vibe on the opening to this. As it powers out it really has a lot of energy and charisma. While the opening tune was strong, this rocker is more potent yet. In fact, of the four songs here, this one is arguably the best. It has some of that modern pop (think Taylor Swift) vibe (mostly on the vocal hooks), but overall this is meatier than that would indicate. It’s quite an effective song on an alternative rock scale, while still working in terms of pop music. This is great. There’s a cool little symphonic styled drop down mid-track that’s a little predictable, but very effective.

Face That's Perfect

While there are hints of country music on the opening of this, it really makes me think of some of the bubble gum pop of the mid to late 1960s. That said, this is meatier than that. Perhaps comparisons to The Monkees’ best stuff, if they had a female singer, would be appropriate. This isn’t as strong as the previous cut, but it stands tall. Additionally, it’s great because three songs in there has been no repetition in style or sound. Yet, this all feels like it fits together quite well.

The Game

Perhaps the most mature song of the set, this has a soaring rock sound. Other than “14 Miles,” this is the standout. It’s a mid-tempo rocker that has a great construction. The arrangement is powerful and the vocal delivery works really well. This is a great way to end the set in style

 
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