Mark Seymour - The Closest Living Thing (2008)

From 1981 to 1998 Mark Seymour was the front man and vocalist for Aussie pub-rock band, Hunters & Collectors. Since Hunters & Collectors called it quits in '98, Seymour has taken his solo career in a more acoustic direction.

In 2008, Seymour released The Closest Living Thing a collection of acoustic versions of H&C songs for all of those nostalgic for the music of that era of Seymour's career.

The song selection is exceptional. While all of the fan favorites are included, Seymour also included some more obscure and deeper H&C album cuts like Titanic and True Believers from Juggernaut and What's a Few Men from Fate.

While the "horns of contempt" are conspicuously absent the more bare-boned acoustic arrangements of the classic "Hunnas" repertoire allow the listener to focus more on Seymour's vocal and songwriting talents. The acoustic arrangements give the songs a new freshness giving the listener not only a reminder of what he or she enjoyed about the original versions but also an opportunity to hear all of these songs for the first time all over again.

Some of the highlights include Talking to a Stranger which features exceptional vocal harmonies, Titanic which Seymour gives a unique spoken-word delivery to the verses and sings the choruses, Everything's On Fire which features some beautiful acoustic guitar playing, and What's a Few Men stripped to the bare essentials making the lyrics a bit more emotionally charged than they were in the original version playing an exceptional tribute to the fallen ANZAC soldiers of the Battle of Galipoli.

All in all, with this collection Seymour blows the dust off the better material of Hunters & Collectors 17 years and gives it new life. Whether your new to Hunters & Collectors and/or Seymour's music or a long time fan this album is a welcome addition to any music collection.


Related Links
Hunters & Collectors (wikipedia)
Mark Seymour (wikipedia)
Mark Seymour (personal website)
Human Frailty (Hunters & Collectors Official Website)
Other Hunters & Collectors Reviews
Interview with Nick & Mark Seymour from the H&C website (Mark's brother, Nick, is a member of Crowded House)

Tim Feehan - Carmalita (1983)

For a moment, remind yourself that this album was released in the eighties and excuse the ever so unfortunate cover art.

Tim Feehan got his start in the Canadian band, Footloose. After achieving moderate success in his native Canada on a small handful of singles, Feehan opted to pursue a solo career.

Feehan has an exceptional voice. It's a cross between Bryan Adams and Richard Marx, although I'd argue better than either of them. Unfortunately, Feehan never enjoyed the level of success of either of those contemporaries.

Listening to his solo material it's not difficult to understand why. Carmalita is pleasant enough from start to finish. It's predominantly mid-tempo lite AOR with relatively catchy melodies however nothing that really sets it apart from any other mid-tempo lite AOR of the same era.

All of the songs are enjoyable and Feehan's voice is consistently strong and very easy on the ears. But none of the songs stick out. His duet with Vikki Moss, Never Say Die (Moss also did a duet with David Foster, Love at Second Sight and was featured on the song If I Turn You Away from the St. Elmo's Fire soundtrack)features strong vocals by both Feehan and Moss but the music seems phoned-in and generic. It does no favors to Feehan.

With stronger material and more passionate music from the session cats backing him up, Feehan's career might have gone on a much stronger trajectory than it did. He certainly had the vocal chops to have had a much more successful career than he ended up having.

Instead Carmalita remains an out of print curiosity of mid eighties Canadian pop. In fairness, Feehan's follow-up albums did show substantial improvement, but those are other reviews for other days.

Oh... and you can commence laughing at the cover art if you like, now. ;-)

Joseph Williams - I Am Alive (1996)

After his rather unceremonious departure from Toto following The Seventh One tour (1987/88), singer Joseph Williams seemingly dropped off the radar.

As a result, his 2nd solo album was aptly titled with the proclamation I Am Alive!

The album opens with Perfectly Clear, a song that seems to scream summer:

The man on TV says it's just another day
With all its picture postcard smiles
The sun is shining and the clouds are blown away
The perfect weather for denial

From start to finish the song is upbeat fun and catchy. It captures summer so well you can practically smell the barbecues, mosquito repellent, and sun-tan lotion. The optimism of the song is infectious and it puts the listener in an excellent mood. A fantastic way to open the album!

Next is Heroes, a bit slower tempo but just as melodic and enjoyable. In addition to Williams exceptional lead vocals Bill Champlin and Jason Scheff of Chicago provide exceptional background vocals along with Joseph's wife, Amye.

On track 3 Joe shifts gears with a cover of Paul Davis's Cool Night a song that speaks to chilly fall nights with amber leaves and cups of cocoa. Bill Champlin provides exceptional and very noticeable background vocals and Jason Scheff colors the song with his exceptional bass chops. And as much as I love Davis's original, I've come to love Williams' version just as much-- if not more.

The title track, I Am Alive, was built around by a drum loop recorded by Williams' former bandmate by Jeff Porcaro before his untimely death in 1992. So even 4 years after his passing, Jeff Porcaro was able to get a drum credit from beyond the grave. It gives the song a little extra something special as it also features some background vocals from Toto's original lead vocalist, Bobby Kimball.

The album is rounded out by a handful of other excellent songs. Babylon is a catchy mid-tempo song. The lyrics aren't great but Williams' vocal delivery elevates the mediocre lyrics and makes them enjoyable. Unarm Your Heart again features Bill Champlin providing very exceptional background vocals in counterpoint to Williams'. The vocal chemistry shared between Williams' and Champlin is perhaps second only to the vocal chemistry Champlin shared with his own former bandmate, Peter Cetera on Chicago 16 & 17. On top of that the vocals are uplifting and positive:

If only you wouldn't turn away
We could make a start
I'll keep you safe
If you'll unarm your heart

One of the best songs on the album is Out of Harm's Way:

I don't care if it blows in my face
I'm still gonna love you with no loss of grace
And I don't care if I'm really afraid
Faith will surround us
And keep our love
Out of harm's way

The song is a celebration of new love. Those over the top highs of happiness you feel for that special someone when you first start falling in love with him/her. The melody is catchy and thoroughly enjoyable.

The original version of the album closes with I'd Rather Dance By Myself which borrows a page from the John Hughes film Some Kind of Wonderful. There's a scene where Amanda Jones (played excellently by a young Leah Thompson) says, "I'd rather be alone for the right reasons than with someone for the wrong reasons." I'd Rather Dance By Myself is the same idea-- you don't need someone else in your life to define who you are.

A later release of the album includes 2 bonus tracks Never Let You Go and Afterlife. Never Let You Go has a similar vibe to Out of Harm's Way and I Believe in You whereas Afterlife is an instrumental piece that offers a bit of a demonstration of the television scoring that Williams' had started to do at that point in his career (in the late 90s Joseph Williams wrote and performed the scores for CBS's Early Edition and LA Doctors and the WB's Roswell).

Unfortunately, this exceptional album is now and has long been out of print. It likely didn't help at the time of the release that the album had/has a late eighties vibe to it, making it sound dated even at its original release in 1996. However, the material is excellent and enjoyable despite sounding dated.

If you liked Chicago 16-19, Toto Fahrenheit & The Seventh One chances are you'll love I Am Alive.

Related Links:
Joseph Williams (wikipedia)
Joseph Williams (Totoweb.org)
Other Joseph Williams related reviews/interviews

Rhythm Dukes - FlashBack (recorded 1970/released 2005)

In 1970 after Moby Grape had broken up and the Sons of Champlin were on indefinite hiatus members of the two bands-- Jerry Miller from Moby Grape and Bill Champlin from the Sons of Champlin teamed up with Fuzzy Oxendine and John Barrett to form the Rhythm Dukes.

Primarily a live band, the Rhythm Dukes were fixtures at Bill Graham's various venues in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1970 they headed into the studio and recorded an album that would not see the light of day for 35 years!

Some of the songs on the album-- For Joy, Hey Children & I'd Like to Get to Know You-- were later re-recorded by the Sons of Champlin (albeit in substantially different forms than those heard on Flash Back) but most of the material on this album remained unheard for 35 years.

The material on the album bears the fruit of the influences of both Moby Grape and the Sons of Champlin. The Sons of Champlin influence is considerably more prevalant than the Moby Grape influence as Bill Champlin was not only vocalist and keyboardist, but he wrote 6 out of the 10 songs that appear on the album.

The album starts out with the Jerry Miller penned Love Your Daddy All Night Long which is an amusing musical selection considering this album was recorded in a church. Not exactly the type of material one might expect to hear recorded or performed inside a church.

While the lead vocal performances featuring Champlin are the strongest the vocal harmonies leave a bit to be desired. There's a somewhat over-relaxed looseness to them drawing attention away from otherwise strong material and instrumental performances and shifting the focus to the mediocre garage band-esque feel that the harmony vocals give the material.

Perhaps one of the strongest overall performances on the album is their cover of the blues classic, Kansas City. Champlin totally cooks. His B3 playing and his soulful vocals are a perfect fit for the song.

For Joy stretches out to a 14+ minute jam that Champlin would later trim to under five minutes when he re-recorded the song with the Sons of Champlin for their Welcome to the Dance album. The Rhythm Dukes version seems excessive but it does allow the band to stretch out and show off their musical talents.

In short this collection is not for the casual listener-- although fan completists of the works of Moby Grape or the Sons of Champlin may want to pick this album up as it provides an interesting snapshot of where members of the respective bands were in 1970 it's merely a curiousity for the more casual listeners of either group... That being said even for the casual listener this album is almost worth picking up for the cover of Kansas City alone.

Currently the CD is only available directly from the Rhythm Dukes website . The packaging is rather amateur-ish, however this is encouraging as most of the money paid for the CD actually goes to the guys who performed the music on it and not suits in the recording industry.

Related Links
Rhythm Dukes (official website)
Sons of Champlin (official website)
Bill Champlin (official website)
Jerry Miller (official website)
Rhythm Dukes (wikipedia entry)
Moby Grape (wikipedia entry)
Sons of Champlin (wikipedia entry)
Jerry Miller (wikipedia entry)
Bill Champlin (wikipedia entry)
Other Bill Champlin/Sons of Champlin related blog posts