Local CDs

March 15, 2009

What’s New in Local CDs
By Kristi Kates

Rally For One, Dreamin’
Seine Hall Entertainment

Comprised of Brett Maline on vocals and lead guitar, Blake O’Brien on vocals and rhythm guitar, Marty Sage on vocals and bass, and John Humphries on vocals and drums - with assistance from David Guy on guitar and Daniel Kirkpatrick on bass - Rally For One’s four core members work together to present a vibe that recalls a peppier Jack Johnson, a more sophisticated Jonas Brothers, or at times a less funky Maroon 5.
Opening with “Shotdown,” an ode to a lost romance, the tracklisting moves through a series of songs sticking mostly to that same topic of being lovelorn - and that’s where the album slumps. There are so many thousands of songs that deal with that exact same experience that it simply needs to be told in a different way either musically or lyrically to make any kind of solid impression.
While Rally For One’s musical skills are good and many of their melodies are decently catchy, the words just don’t express anything new (“you’re still on my mind/come back baby/I need you to carry me/I will be waiting for you/I keep on tryin’/do you even care”), which causes the listener’s attention to drift away like another one of the band’s lost girlfriends.
The band (which has a Traverse City family connection) does play with enthusiasm, and there are moments of potential throughout - the pretty opening guitar theme on “Getting Used To,” the attention-grabbing song title of “Lemon Water” (that unfortunately seems to have nothing to do with the song itself), the nicely propellent drum work and rhythms of “Without You” - but these standout segments never really get a chance to live up to their own expectations. Hopefully, now that the band has gotten those failed relationships out of their system with this album, they’ll have more time and inspiration to encourage the lyrics to live up to the melodies on their next.

Bobby Jones and Friends,
Arizona Princess - Bobby Jones

While Bobby Jones of Leelanau County played lead, rhythm, and bass guitars, arranged all of the songs, produced the set, and sang all of the vocals, his album also features a who’s-who of Traverse City area musicians, from Roger Tarczon on drums to Newt Cole on saxophone and Tim Wire on piano, just to name a few.
Although Jones has had a myriad of experience with bands - having started with Peter and the Disciples way back in in 1964 - he just began this solo recording project in 2006, and completed it late last year.
The album opens with the instrumental “Extra Sauce,” which sets the tone for the album right away; you can almost smell the empty beer bottles and cigarette smoke, and see those clock hands edging towards 2 a.m. as the piano and guitar take turns wailing away, battling for attention with Cole’s distinctive saxophone work. The second tune is a live recording in Aspen, Colorado at the reunion of Jones’ Black Pearl band, who churn through “Statesboro Blues” in that same enthusiastic bar-band vein; but that track is followed by an unfortunately soulless, somewhat karaoke-like rendition of Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come.”
The rest of the album progresses pretty much same as the above; a mix of well-executed, old-school, more free-form jams (which is where both Jones’ guitar work and the band’s talents really stand out) and slightly more forced numbers that seem to be trying too hard and are missing the character of the other performances. Jones’ vocals are more appealing when he sits back a little, such as on “Bobby’s Blues”; but the one thing that’s apparent on this set is that all of the musicians are having a rollicking good time, and perhaps that’s exactly what Jones set out to do.