JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Songwriter Message Forum My FAWM/RPM February CD

Black Pepper Sea did a review of the CD over at RPM (it is a "give a review", "Get A Review" type thread over there. I am just putting it here to keep track of it for improvements down the road.

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My review is of Cville Ramblings album “Ole Stomping Ground.”

This is an odd, interesting record with lots of variety, and I’ll summarize my overall thoughts after I’ve touched on each song. Thanks to Cville for posting his lyrics and liner notes — it made my job MUCH easier!

1. I’m Taking the Mother Road (to the Mother Lode): A loping, country-ish Americana type tune. Kevin’s (aka Cville) voice kind of reminds me of Bill Mallonee or Gary Louris of the Jayhawks, though they’re a bit pitchy and erratic — but not enough to detract that much from the song. It’s funny that Kevin thought that the first verse was a little boring, because I think they’re some of the more interesting lyrics in the song: “John Steinbeck and history books on the front seat... maps have fallen on the floor with the trash... window open letting in a travelers dream...” Nice choruses too. All in all, nicely done.

2. Young Love: In Kevin’s notes, he stated that he was going for a ‘Rickie Lee Jones circa 1979’ type vibe, and the song starts out evoking that with a walking bass, hand claps, and some casual talking vocals in the background. I really like the spacious, bohemian awkwardness of this song, and prefer it over the more polished ‘Band-In-A-Box’ instrumentation found elsewhere on this album. The lyrics aren’t “So Long, Marianne,” but they fit with the unstructured feel of the piece. Things get a little sloppy and disjointed towards the end with the hi-hat, but hey, it’s charming.

3. Yes: A faux-loungey number with lovely background vocals by Bethan Mathis and a nice guitar solo. Lyrics are just ok, and it does have that cheesy “Band-In-A-Box” instrumentation, but seeing as how it’s tongue in cheek ‘jazz,’ it can kind of get away with it. Plus, as Kevin notes, it was written for a one-hour song skirmish. This is the kind of weird little tune Bob Dorough would feel comfortable doing.

4. Movie In My Head: A nice premise with some interesting lyrics — “There’s a movie in my head that I can’t get out, I just wish it was a happy one instead...” and “I’m not ignoring you it’s just a private screening.” Nice instrumentation (BIAB - but not too cheesy), backing vocals, and a well-played guitar solo. One of the better sounding, more polished tracks on the album.

5. Here: Hmmm... I’m kind of torn about the inclusion of this song on the album. It’s written and sung by Girl Named Sam and it’s a great song — and Kevin added bass and electric guitar to it which helps flesh it out — but had I not read the liner notes I would be wondering why this was smack-dab in the middle of this album. I can see this being added on the end as a bonus-track and with an asterisk, but I think it sits very awkwardly as the fifth song in. It’s like someone changed the record mid-way through. Kevin’s role is more like a sideman’s on this one, rather than as a true collaborator — at least in my mind.

6. Waiting On A Ring: Another, nice Americana-esque tune with a clean, polished sound. A few nice lyrical moments — “sipping her Red Bull through a curly straw...” — but suffers from a lot of the same cliches you find in contemporary Country music. Kevin eludes to this in his liner notes, and my vote would also have been to go the ‘darker’ route. A sweet song - just maybe a bit too saccharin sweet.

7. The Ole Stomping Ground: In his notes, Kevin mentions that this tune is an homage to older Van Morrison and The Band, and it certainly reminds me of those venerable musicians - with a drumbeat that’s reminiscent of “The Weight” and it’s relaxed 70s vibe, it’s probably one of my favorite tracks. Very tasteful use of “Band-In-A-Box” and some nice acoustic guitar picking and backing vocals (again by Bethan Mathis). Wistful, nostalgic lyrics add to the overall warmth of the track. Nicely done.

8. Moon Shot Jam: One of the best sounding tracks musically — apparently it was mostly performed by a collaborator with guitar added by Kevin. A fun, spacey track with throwaway lyrics, but enjoyable nonetheless.

9. Helium: Considered a bonus track by Kevin (it was written and recorded for the pre-RPM ‘Dictionary’ Challenge in January), Helium is a simple, swampy (mostly) acoustic blues jam with some tasteful tremolo guitar throughout. There’s interesting imagery and I really like the sparseness of the instrumentation, though it kind of breaks down near the end and almost sounds like two different songs competing with each other.

10. Drums ‘n’ Bass ‘n’ Banjo: The title says it all for this instrumental, and what I might have initially thought was a ‘filler’ track is actually very interesting and quite enjoyable. Some cool space-banjo and bass noodling by Kevin.

11. Jesus From Galilee: A mellow gospel-type song — though a bit generic musically (I would have canned the BIAB for this and just used an acoustic guitar or piano) with bland lyrics and some frankly pretty awful harmony vocals (sorry). Doesn’t really rise above being anemic ‘praise’ music. I would have drawn inspiration from something more like “John The Revelator” (which Kevin mentioned in his liner notes) or even better, Tom Waits’ “Jesus Gonna Be Here.” Probably my least favorite track on the album.

12. On The Road: A nice acoustic improvised tune with some folksy lyrics that ends the album on a high note. Musically it kind of reminded me of My Morning Jacket, and I wish there were more songs like this; A bit rougher and less polished than the BIAB tracks, but so much more interesting and heartfelt in my opinion. Kevin’s a good enough player to pull it off!

And there you have it. All-in-all, an album with lots of different sounds, influences, and enough diversity to keep the average listener happy. As I mentioned, I think that more ‘live’ instrumentation and less canned music would help make it more interesting and give the songs more character, but I understand its usage due to the time constraints of the Challenge. I like Kevin’s voice and I think he has a good ear for mood and a unique sound, but a bit more work on the lyrics and harmonies could have elevated the impact of the songs substantially. That said: overall — nicely done!