Music Street Journal - Music News & Reviews

Non-Prog CD Reviews

Annie Fitzgerald You & Me & the Sun Review by Gary Hill This quite an intriguing album. In some ways it's not far removed from the mainstream pop rock created by a lot of similar artists. There is a cool dream-like quality to a lot of this that just works so well, though. Additionally, this has a decent range beyond that. The final word on it is that this disc might live in the same neighborhood as a lot of other artists, but it has one of the best houses on that block. This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2018 Volume 4. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2018.

Track by Track Review

Be Like a Tree The album opens with a fun loving, bright sounding number. It has some hints of jazz in the mix. There is plenty of soft rock along with some hints of country in the mix. This is just a fun pop piece that has both classic and modern textures to it.

Listen Carefully More of a rocking sound is displayed here. There is a bit of a bluesy edge to the cut. I'm not crazy about the production on this. It seems sort of compressed to me, and the vocals feel too sterile. That said, this is a solid number that flows well.

Black & Blue Now, this is more like it. There is a real evocative texture to the cut. It has a rock edge to it. This has a blues meets country rock vibe. It's one of the highlights of the set, too. I dig the guitar fills on this tune.

Feels Like Summer This is closer to "Listen Carefully." It is a solid, and rather accessible number. It's not one of the standouts, though.

Goodbye Now As you might guess from the title, there is a sad edge to this number. It's a slow moving, balladic cut that works very well. There is a healthy helping of country here, and this brings a lot of variety. It's another highlight.

Rest of Me A bit more of a mainstream modern pop rocker, there are some bits of things like dream pop in the mix on this number. It's a classy tune that's particularly effective.

You & Me & the Sun The title track has a sunshine like quality to it. It's a mainstream pop rock piece that's among the best here.

I Won’t Walk Away A trippy kind of dream-like quality starts this cut. It grows out from there, but remains slower and mellower than a lot of the stuff here. While it gets more rock and energy infused further down the road, it remains mellower than a lot of the stuff here.

Spellbound Another highlight of the set, this is a trippy, dreamy kind of piece. In fact, it might be my favorite number here. There are almost modern prog rock elements to it. It is dark and so cool.

Oh Caroline While this retains some of the dreamy quality, it is closer to a mainstream number. I suppose you could say that it has some dream-pop elements. While it's a strong tune, it's not a standout. That's more about the strength of some of the rest of them here because this is actually in the upper half of material on this set.

More CD Reviews

Metal/Prog Metal

Non-Prog

Progressive Rock

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
© 2024 Music Street Journal Site design and programming by Studio Fyra, Inc./Beetcafe.com