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Non-Prog CD Reviews

Spooky Tooth Nomad Poets: Live In Germany 2004 Review by Gary Hill Although this is my first exposure to this material, it is apparently a reissue of an out of print live album. It’s been revamped, and this release includes a bonus DVD. That DVD has the full concert along with a couple bonus bit of Gary Wright live and an interview with him. The video of the main show is good. It was an outdoor concert and pretty cool. The Gary Wright stuff, though, is not the same quality level. Still, it’s cool to have, and really literally a bonus added onto a bonus. Overall, this is a great set. This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2016 Volume 3 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review

Waitin' for the Wind This rocker is classy and classic. The change up on the piece is particularly cool. I like the guitar solo quite a bit, too.

Sunshine Help Me An energetic tune, I like this one even more than the opener. It’s another with a lot of class built into it. The vocal arrangement is great, but so is the central riff.

That Was Only Yesterday A piano based tune at the start, this has a bit of a bluesy edge during the first verse. It works to more of a 1960s styled rocking sound from there with other instruments really beefing up the arrangement.

The Wrong Time There is definitely some funk on this classic sounding number. It’s smoking hot. In fact, this is one of my favorites here. I love the guitar solo, but the whole thing just rocks. The instrumental interplay on the extended jam later is particularly effective.

Feelin' Bad This song isn’t bad by any means. It just doesn’t rise to the level of the cuts that came before it. It doesn’t really reach out and grab me. That said, there are some good vocal harmonies here.

Wildfire Now, this cool rocker is stronger. It reminds me a lot of the kind of stuff that Wright would later do in his solo career. It has a lot of style and character. It really rocks. I dig the harmonica on this thing. In a lot of ways this makes me think of Wright’s song “Love Is Alive.”

Better By You, Better Than Me I have to admit that my first exposure to this song was through Judas Priest’s cover of it. I still prefer that version, but this one rocks well, too. The more rocking section later is pretty awesome, too. I love the keyboard soloing.

Tobacco Road This classic gets a smoking hot rendition here. It’s nothing all that different, but just really rocks.

Hangman Hang My Shell On A Tree With mellow acoustic based sections and more rocking ones, this features some great vocal harmonies. I dig some of the keyboard textures later, too.

Evil Woman This is not the song of the same title from Santana. This is another smoking rocker that works really well. It’s nothing Earth shattering, but just an effective cut. This does get into some cool jamming, though. It’s an extremely extended piece.

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