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Quick Notes!
is compiled by the Rockzillaworld staff.
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Previous Quick Notes!
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 Vince
Hatfield, Take It Easy on Yourself. Blue Moon
Releasing cover versions of songs can be a bit of a tightrope
walk. Thousands of bad bar bands make a buck or two on weekends
in pathetic attempts at recreating hit songs note for note. Some
who have plenty of respectable original material are just doing
"what the gig calls for," keeping the audience well
within their comfort zone. The music is just for background for
drunken attempts at dancing and feeble pick-up lines anyway.
Further up the food chain you've got the case of an indie-rocker
who convinced a respected Americana label into releasing a CD
full of covers in the same mopey, woe-is-me style without regard
for whether that put a new twist on the songs or just muddied
the meaning. In the end it left most people wondering why they'd
bothered. On the other end of the spectrum you're got Johnny
Cash's masterpiece box set Unearthed that illuminated
the meaning or suggested alternate interpretations of tunes that
the definitive version had been recorded years ago, or so everyone
thought.
While Hatfield didn't write any of the songs it's not fair
characterizing Take It Easy on Yourself as a disc of covers.
Roughly half the songs haven't been recorded before, at least
not in versions many would have heard. However the covers illustrate
what you can expect from the remainder of the disc. From the
countrified-soft-rock cover of Paul Davis' hit "I Go Crazy"
and the Mac Davis penned cover of Bobby Goldsboro's sap-fest
hit "Watching Scotty Grow" (recast here as "Watching
Our Kids Grow") Hatfield shows a definite preference for
a middle-of-the-road, seventies, pop-country sound. If you can't
imagine something like this ever appealing to you then you're
probably right. But if your tastes include country artists like
Don Williams (who's also recorded the title track) then you'll
find Take It Easy on Yourself more than worthwhile. Hatfields's
voice is ideally suited to the material and, along with co-producer
Charlie McCoy (I'll pass on the obvious feud joke here) assembled
a team of crack musicians that include Johnny Gimble and Blue
Rodeo's Kim Deschamps. www.vincehatfield.com--AK
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 Stanley
Smith, In the Land of Dreams. Spanks-a-lot Records
All right. This is gonna be short and sweet.
You need this record. Period.
It serves a dual purpose. Not only is it beautiful to kick
off your shoes and let this disc put you in the most comfortable
of places, but this disc also serves a more utilitarian purpose:
lend this to anyone, and if they return it without expressing
passion for how good it is, you can feel safe to assume that
person has no soul. Be cordial, be polite and don't upset 'em,
'cause you now know with certainty that this is a heartless person,
and who knows what they're capable of.
I want to express that these are not at all the feelings of
Mr. Smith. He is a wonderful person who would not look with favor
at such condemning statements. The above synopsis is a barometer
that I came up with on my own. But I'm sticking to it and that's
all I have to say. www.stanleysmithmusic.com --DD
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 Eleven Hundred Springs
featuring Kim Pendleton, Broken Dreams. Last Beat
Records
While there is never any doubt that this 5-song EP is an 1100
Springs album the addition of guest vocalist Kim Pendleton (from
Last Beat labelmate Vibrolux) takes the band in a direction they
couldn't go on their own. The Springs originals with Pendleton
either harmonizing or dueting with regular vocalist Matt Hillyer
give these four love songs the perfect tone, a blend of hopeful
anticipation, bittersweet longing, with a slight undercurrent
of fear that in spite of everything it isn't going to work out.
From the opener, "Depend on You," through the last
of these, the all-we-need-is-each-other weeper, "We Don't
Need to Belong," Hillyer and Pendleton elevate solid songwriting
to the next level with the conviction of their vocals. The title
track ("Dreams are made for the broken-hearted fools to
fall into / I just want one broken dream to come true")
has become my new theme.
Finishing Broken Dreams with a cover of the John Prine
classic, "Illegal Smile," not only works but also in
some warped way makes sense.
www.elevenhundredsprings.com or www.lastbeatrecords.com --AK
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 Thomas Michael
Riley, Cow Pasture Pool
Not an artist you've heard of unless he plays your favorite
watering hole now and again, but Thomas Michael Riley's holding
the double threat status in a big way these days. Writing for
Gary P. Nunn, garnering kudos for his storytelling from no less
a light than Tom T. Hall. And on top of that lyrical skill, wielding
a warm baritone that's as comfortable as a broke-in Spalding
mitt from your high school glory days. The title cut here's as
apt a tome on redneck golf as you're ever going to hear, while
tracks like "Postcards From Heaven" nail down a sensibility
that evokes campfires and simple truths. Whole record's worth
it for "First Things First" alone. www.thomasmichaelriley.com--DP
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 The Mickeys,
Finding Our Way. River Beat Music
It's a concept ready-made for the Nashville star-making machinery.
At least if the vagaries of genetics and reproduction can be
called a "concept." Take two talented, attractive,
identical twins and cut an album. If Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
can make the cover of The Rolling Stone without any apparent
musical talent (notwithstanding that tape my daughter used to
own) then this concept should be an easy success.
But, as the disc title says, the Mickeys are finding their
way. Rather than calling on the star-makers in their current
hometown of Nashville, twins Amy and Julie Mickey co-produced
Finding Our Way (with John Albani), released it on their
own label, and secured national distribution. The obvious advantage
to this approach is nobody at the label would tell them they
couldn't write their own material (writing credit on half the
cuts include at least one twin). "Smoke and Mirrors"
(the initial single that has charted on Americana and folk charts
both here and in Europe) as well as "My Train" are
good cuts. But the Mickeys really shine on tracks that give them
a chance to showcase their talent for sibling harmony, most notably
"Old Kentucky Wind."
www.themickeys.net --AK
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