JOE BLACK – Showtunes For The Recently Deceased
June 12th, 2009 | Published in Reviews | 2 Comments
I don’t think you’ll ever read a press release that doesn’t proclaim the music you’re about to listen to as unique or find a band who don’t believe they have a fresh viewpoint on things, but occasionally an artist comes along who doesn’t crow from the rooftops and they tend to be the most interesting of all. With ‘Showtunes For The Recently Deceased’ Joe Black really has created something with a unique flavour. I can only imagine Joe was conceived on a stormy night, perhaps in a room lit only by the lighting flashing through the night sky, as Tom Waist and Kurt Weill made frantic, musically discordant man love… there can be no other explanation for him. The experience starts off with some unique presentation, my album arrived in a lunchbox that had been spray painted black and filled with feathers, flowers and pieces of paper bearing doodles and messages. It was an intriguing way to start, but nothing compared to how the disc sounded when I popped it into the CD player. Across the tracks here Black howls, yells, moans, thrashes his piano and accordian and, occasionally, even sings, but each note seems to be forced into place, the piece as a whole plays out like the soundtrack to Tim Burton’s inner monologue. With the likes of the snarling ‘Happy Birthday Mr Black’ or the titular track, all brooding keys and Waits-esque spoken word vocals, Black confounds the listener as much as he entertains. But the music hall pastiche of ‘The “I Don’t Like You Very Much” Song’ is the cornerstone of this album, showing Joe’s tongue wedged firmly in cheek, one can only suppose he recorded it with a glint in his eye as he seems to be loving every second. Black is really an artist who thrives in the live environment, but with this disc he gives the listener a good starting point for the trek into his own twisted world.Checdk out Joe at: www.myspace.com/misterjoeblack
June 29th, 2009at 7:56 am(#)
I should email u about this.
September 20th, 2009at 5:24 pm(#)
I love Joe Black! (L)
He’s ….amazing!
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