As musicians from the past get the urge to release new music, many are finding the additional space available on compact disc to be just the place to put previous efforts. That is a blessing for fans of good music, and Ted Solovicos of Boston's Smuggler does just that, giving the world six songs from one of Smuggler's three major recording sessions in the '80s and eight new productions for almost one hour's worth of sound. Going under the moniker Grateful Ted, the CD features a ticket stub on the back cover from when the band opened for Bon Jovi at the Paradise Theater in Boston. This was when "Runaway" was just breaking for Jon Bon Jovi and Smuggler had a bigger following than the guy who would go on to sell millions of records. Having the legacy documented on this fine release makes it that much more of a treasure. Solovicos is a more-than-competent songwriter, and with Mach Bell of the Joe Perry Project releasing Last Man Standing in 2002 and more music being recorded and released by Hirsh Gardner of New England and Rick Berlin from Berlin Airlift/Luna, as well as another Joe Perry lead singer, Charlie Farren, the then-and-now approach not only preserves these great sounds, it gives those who appreciate these honest efforts all the more to listen to. "Sweet and Innocent" has a nice swing with the jazzy piano from Richard Meader and some shocking lyrics: "Your sweet and innocent love/I hear your friends are all queer," and something indiscernible about lesbians; not very politically correct and not very nice, but that's part of the product. Musically it is Bachman Turner Overdrive-lite, catchy tunes from the major songwriter of an important suburban band from the Boston area's early-'80s scene. "Don't Burn the Witch" has that punch Smuggler was all about, and it is one of the CD's best tracks, a thumping, snarling cruncher. The vibe-infested "Love Is Strange" is also a highlight. Interesting new and old music makes up The Time Machine and it's a decent time capsule preserving the work of a group who made some noise by making noise. Fleetwood Mac engineer/producer Dinky Dawson recorded a Solovicos tune, "In the Long Run," released on Boston Rock & Roll Anthology, Vol. 3 in 1984, not included here. It was the only other bit of Smuggler material in release at the time of this release.
ASA BREBNER Biography Answers.com http://www.answers.com/topic/asa-brebner?cat=entertainment Asa Brebner - Genre: Rock
- Active: '90s, 2000s
- Instruments: Vocals, Guitar
BiographyJourneymen with diverse resumes like Mick Taylor,Peter Green, Rick Derringer and Larry Knetchel of Bread - elite rock & roll side players and artists in their own right - have a certain lustre apart from the popular work they participated in. Asa Brebner is in that league, though the records he performed on didn't invade the Billboard Charts or reign too long on MTV with gold/platinum status to become tunes recognizable to the masses. But as a rock guitarist he is a most intuitive player, able to go from premium Johnny Thunders' style slashing leads to Keith Richards' innovative rhythms.
Born on November 21, 1953, the only child of Winston Brebner and Ardell Cogswell Brebner, his father wrote the highly acclaimed book Doubting Thomas garnering interest from film director Ingmar Bergman. His official biography on www.asabrebner.net states that "he attended progressive high school and learned guitar from listening to R&B, The Rolling Stones and oddball blues records." That bio also includes a strange story of Asa hitchhiking through Central and South America after graduation at 17 years of age, getting arrested and charged with being an American drug smuggler, tried and sentenced to twenty years in prison. Escaping prison, U.S. diplomats from the American Embassy smuggled him home.
His vinyl debut was on a 45 RPM by Mickey Clean and The Mezz, a favorite of Boston '70s/'80s hotspot The Rathskellar. "Hillside Walking" b/w "Drifting" was released on Asa Records and was one of those Boston indy singles which opened the floodgates for tons of new bands who would make their own discs in the decades to follow. Friend Leroy Radcliffe produced "Voodoo", a Mickey Clean and the Mezz single on the French Co-Pilot label. When Asa and Radcliffe, along with soon-to-be Cars drummer David Robinson, joined local legend Jonathan Richman for that singer's second recorded wave of Modern Lovers' music, Brebner's place in rock & roll legend was secured. Richman was at his most eccentric during this phase, a non-commercial battery of tunes about the "Ice Cream Man" and other such nonsense, Jonathan playing the Alfred E. Newman game on the record industry, and his loyal fans. Years from now Richman's idealism may prove to be brilliant. Brebner told AMG how that he feltRichman "would have made a lot more money if he'd stayed just hard core but he went his own artistic way and I respect him for it. Jonathan stuck to his eccentric guns and remains a true artistic oddity...you probably won't see him on "behind the Music" "Ice Cream Man" type stuff was a slap in the face to all that Macho/punk posturing and was a much bigger risk than stepping into line with the rest of the leather jacket/safety pin poseurs. You have to have been there to see what a shock it was to the people whose music he helped spawn as the "godfather of punk" It was truly scary and at times we feared for our lives."
This tenure resulted in two albums on Beserkley Records with some titles distributed originally by CBS, the Richman classic Back In Your Life, Modern Lovers Live, and a few tracks on a compilation Beserkley issued entitled Spitballs. "Egyptian Reggae" from Modern Lovers Live is a brilliant track and went gold in England, France, Germany and Holland.
In 1978 singer Robin Lane had a deal with Private Stock Records and went out to recruit a band called Robin Lane & The Chartbusters. Asa was one of the guitarists in a group fronted by a chick who could hold her own with Chrissie Hynde and Stevie Nicks. After two EPs and two albums, Brebner and the group without Robin recorded David Knopfler of Dire Straits' Warner Brothers demos. In 1982 Asa launched The Grey Boys, the first band in which he sang and wrote all the songs. He also did cartoons for High Times and other magazines. He formed Asa Brebner's Idle Hands in 1986 and recorded a tape which included the song "Last Bad Habit". It appeared on Warner Brothers' Best Of The Unsigned Bands CD compilation in 1988. He released three solo albums between 1996-2001 on three different labels and a compilation of his music entitled Time In My Way on the Windjam imprint. Along with production work for Mickey Clean's Unsung Heroes, the Bloodshot album for Peter C. Johnson and Severance for Kendra Flowers, Brebner can be found in the clubs of Boston performing, and helping other musicians through benefit concerts. 2002 has him working on the long awaited reunion album of Robin Lane & The Chartbusters. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
I WALK THE STREETS Asa Brebner
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I walk the streets - album reviews | | The title track is a powerful statement of an urban rock & roller who has "walked the streets where my best friends died." Forty eight minutes and fifty one seconds of Johnny Thunders style rock - without Thunders celebrated excesses. Much like Marianne Faithful's Broken English, this album is a rebirth for a survivor who honed his craft for decades on stages of major venues and in many a night club. Asa Brebner has played guitar in numerous Boston-based groups from Mickey Clean and The Mezz to the second great version of Jonathan Richman's Modern Lovers, half of which evolved into Robin Lane & The Chartbusters. Utilizing eight different studios, mastered in a ninth, Jon Wyner's M-Works where David Bowie's catalog was re-mastered for Ryko Disc, these are all Brebner originals with the exclusion of Jacks On Drugs, written by Phil Hahnen. Ex-Archies - you read that right - onstage anyway - and Chartbuster colleague Scott Baerenwald of the local legends Reddy Teddy plays bass and sings backing vocals on Sunshine And Blue Skies, one of the many highlights on this disc, not coincidentally recorded at Ducky Carlisle's Room 9. Ducky was married to Robin Lane at the time of this recording although, sadly, she does not make an appearance. Unhappy Birthday Girl is the kind of song that Jonathan Richman used to craft for his fans. Mr. Richman would do well to listen to this disc by his former bandmate. Brebner gives his pop songs that roots rock foundation that made the early Rolling Stones so appealing. It's evident in this track. No Good For Anything But Love has an effective riff augmented by vocals that make this no nonsense rock & roll the fans of The Modern Lovers have yearned to hear again, with a splashy appearance by The Heavy Metal Horns on this track. The sound is surprisingly consistent for working in so many studios and employing so many musicians. Love Only Makes The World Go Round is very radio friendly, and another of the picks on this CD. Don't Ever Lose A Memory brings that Thunders connection back - Johnny Thunders having written the classic You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory. There's lots of heartache on this disc, culminating in the campy Thru With Girls which has mandolin, banjo and acoustic guitar courtesy of Andrew Mazzone. It's back to business with Sunshine Blue Skies, the production by Brebner and Mazzone is perfect, something that was lacking in the Robin Lane albums. There is a refinement here, a balance of the distortion of rock & roll and capturing it for the intended audience. Jacks On Drugs has that vintage Boston boom boom sound. I'm Not Going To Work Today, recorded in Brebner's attic with Allen Devine on vocals, is a country- style experiment where the artist gets to stretch. Turn Back The Pages has that Byrds sound so essential to The Chartbusters. Great drums by Andy Plaisted and vocal by Andrew Mazzone on this Brebner original. At Least Nobody Else Has Our Memories is a country ballad with Brother Cleve on piano, Asa reminiscing again. The final tune, Mr. Hide returns to that Stones feel, a wonderful keyboard fill on the chorus and a drone vocal by Brebner with wild guitars at the end, finally reprising with an unneccessary reprise of Thru With Girls - the eloquence of the last tune stifled somewhat by this. Regardless, this album should've been released on a major label as so many of Asa Brebner's other works were. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide |
BEST NO MONEY CAN BUY 2001 ASA BREBNER
http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,1558167,00.html best no money can buy - album reviews | | Asa Brebner's Best No Money Can Buy CD is a rock and roller getting a bit subdued, making country sounds more predominant in his repertoire. "The Roses I Never Bought You" is low key for sure, but things get even more obsessive as Brebner spins yarns about extinguishing those in his way from the ominous "Reasons for Murder" to "You Stole My Woman" ("now you're gonna die"). For those wanting more of the underground rock that made I Walk the Streets such a delight, you'd better be ready to change with an artist's vision. Brebner takes simple rock riffs and makes them complex, breathing new life into the cliché, most of the recording created with Neighborhoods/Paul Westerberg guitarist David Minehan and label owner Loreen Hurley. These partners in crime help the one-time guitarist for Robin Lane & the Chartbusters build an album that can be called his Beggar's Banquet. Marilyn Monroe's famous skirt blowing over the subway is in a photo on the cover, above the artist's head, and he narrates tough country & western themes with his patented rock & roll edge. "Forbidden Love" is beautiful in its almost innocence after the bitter three tunes that precede it: "You're the mother of his children/There'd be so much hell to pay," his voice vacillating from a serious Iggy Pop to ambivalent Tom Petty. "Too Many Assholes" is the first of the real rockers, taking ex-bandmate Jonathan Richman's classic "Pablo Picasso" to the extreme, but the album goes back to its country bent with "Break My Own Heart" which is unsettling. "Won't Wait for Saturday" is another about face, back to rock, and it is great rock, the most solid riff on the record, sentiment borrowed from the Easybeats' "Friday on My Mind" and Richman's "New Bank Teller." "Nice to Me" is another driving rocker, this one the only tune recorded with Ducky Carlisle, and it could have come right out of the Beggar's Banquet or I Walk the Streets outtakes with sexist comments galore. This is the stuff Brebner does best, down and dirty rock & roll, and as good as "Out of the Frying Pan (Into Desire)" is, its country slant is too disruptive, and the album would be better served splitting the rockers from the honky tonk. "Go Downtown" is more Rolling Stones by way of the Nervous Eaters, making this a truly "Jekyll & Hyde" album, the two sides of Asa Brebner. The title track brings things to a close, and it is saddled with Steve Sadler's banjo. Good material that goes back and forth from mellow to manic. While John Cate and the Swinging Steaks are crafting their roots sounds, Brebner takes a decidedly different path; musical and ambitious, its best moments are when it lets its hair down to rock. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide |
TIME IN MY WAY 2001 ASA BREBNER
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time in my way - album reviews | | There are degrees of greatness and when you listen to this retrospective of Asa Brebner's work you realize he is a journeyman and a contender. Play this against the Sky Saxon Blues Band to hear the difference between someone being genuine and an artist testing the waters. Brebner's authenticity combines with creativity on the amazing guitar solo in the middle of "Prophecy"; add to that its innovative riff and production, and a tip of that hat must go to Windjam Records for releasing this compilation at the same time as Best No Money Can Buy, the follow-up to Brebner's excellent Accurate Records album I Walk the Streets. Four of the tracks are from the Accurate release from the year before: "Jack's on Drugs," "Going Home," "Love Only Makes the World Go Round," and "Sunshine Blue Skies." Who decided the order and which tunes would be chosen from the Brebner catalog is not specified in the too-brief credit list provided with the insert. Material is also culled from two other previous releases, Ragged Religion and Prayers of a Snowball in Hell, one of the great titles in music history. Brebner is a clever guy, and the riff in "Idle Hands" (a song title that was also the name of his band) sounds like Led Zeppelin going total pop. Two tracks are new to this world, the snappy "Not Much Life," and "Angela," which concludes the disc while reinventing the classic Crystals riff from "Then He Kissed Me." Brebner's rocking hard folk tunes preach like a country musician wielding class and dry humor. Country radio should embrace this smart stuff, especially "Not Much Life," while "Angela" has that Triple A format polish. There are no selections from the artist's work with Robin Lane & the Chartbusters or the Modern Lovers, which is the one downside here. Otherwise, this is a great primer to the solo work of guitarist Asa Brebner who continues to record and release valid new music deserving of an audience. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide |
ADAM SHERMAN SONGBIRD 2001
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songbird - album reviews | | A dramatic departure from Adam Sherman's days with A&M recording artist Private Lightning. A subdued, jazzy document of a journeyman whose voice has traded the sharp rock tones for smooth, soothing, thought-provoking messages. That Ian Matthews and Elliot Murphy have covered a tune of Sherman's on their disc, released on the heels of this one in 2001, is a testament to perseverance. The saxophone has replaced Patty Van Ness' distinctive violin, which often traded licks with Sherman's voice in Private Lightning. Here, producer Ken Field adds the sax, which has become identifiable with Persistence of Memory Orchestra, the band Field plays in with Willie Alexander. On "Poorboy," the artist sounds like he's on the holodeck of Star Trek in one of Captain Picard's private detective episodes, performing in the background of a smoke-filled cafe. It's a cover of a Nick Drake song, and is a bit jazzier than Sherman's own compositions. "Hard Place" has a "Cowgirl in the Sand"/Neil Young undertone, each tune having some touch of melancholy. "Songbird," the title track, gets even deeper into the downtown pop. The album keeps sinking, in a good way, into a low space that is usually carried by the bass guitar. Unlike Jack Bruce's Monkjack album, which glistened with renewal, Sherman's change of direction puts his voice and the darker edges of somber poetry into an organ cushion provided by Michael Ward-Bergemann. Things come up for air with the cover of Nick Cave's "Lime Tree Arbour," with Field's flute moving like early Jethro Tull over Bergemann's accordion. The total intensity of Private Lightning, an onslaught of a rock band with a violin taking a central role, has completely vanished from Sherman's music. It is marvelous reinvention, pulling Willie Alexander's original, "Too Bad," into this jazz-pop collection, recorded live at the Zeitgeist Gallery in Cambridge, MA. It's an insightful and delightful voyage. Using a sound that Alexander has crafted around these parts with the able assistance of Ken Field, the voice of Adam Sherman alongside the upright bass of Chris McLaughlin takes Alexander's song to unexplored regions. The same can be said of the cover of Tim Buckley's "Chase the Blues Away." This album is a vacuum where four diverse cover tunes by Cave, Drake, Alexander, and Buckley get a unique treatment. Sherman's sixth original here, "Shoot for the Moon," a solo acoustic performance, ends the disc with a bit of optimism: "Sometimes even crazy dreams come true." This is an enhanced CD which includes a video by Jeff Hudson for "January February," the first song on the disc. An important pillar of Boston music who was brought to the region by George Nardo, a member of the post-Lou Reed Velvet Underground back in the early '70s, it is interesting to see Sherman working so closely with another of the post-Reed Velvet alum, Willie Alexander and his bandmate, Ken Field. Also worth noting is that a Sherman co-write, "One Cold Street," is the first track on Elliot Murphy/Ian Matthews' 2001 recording, La Terre Commune. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide |
ADAM SHERMAN SONGBIRD
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- Release Date: 1990
- Genre: Rock
- Label: Atlantic
- Total Time: 44:02
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Lost Souls
As the Swinging Steaks abandoned their slick 1980s pop for country-rock when the 1990s came around, Mark Cutler's Raindogs did the same, but got it out of the starting gate a bit earlier on this Atco debut, Lost Souls. The album leans more to the rock than country side, with standout tunes like "Cry for Mercy" and "This Is the Place" among the dozen offered here. "I'm Not Scared" owes much to Gregg Allman and is decent, while "Phantom Flame" is extraordinary, up there with the best of the Swinging Steaks, Johnny Cunningham's fiddle and Cheryl Hodges' backing vocals bringing it that nice Rolling Stones feel when the greatest rock & roll band in the world gave its style a Flying Burrito Brothers flavor. "The Higher Road" and "Too Many Stars" are competent rockers though they don't burst out like some of the other tracks, and that's the downside here. Cutler's voice isn't distinctive enough to elevate some of the more pedestrian numbers and like another "critic's darling" band, the Tragically Hip, the lesser songs in the repertoire -- say "Nobody's Getting Out" -- weigh the other selections down like an anchor. Lost Souls is perfectly played material and an interesting debut, but there's not enough personality to send this over the top. "Cry for Mercy" sounds slightly like a harbinger of what Gregg Alexander and his New Radicals would bring to the world in 1998. Problem is, there's no "You Get What You Give" here, and that's what this singer/songwriter and his band were in dire need of. Nice to see Myanna Pontoppidan of Girls Night Out as part of the Hubcap Horns employed on this outing. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
SHELLEY WINTERS PROJECT
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| | | Review | by Joe Viglione | | Rick Kinscherf Berlin has released quality music for close to three decades, beginning with Orchestra Luna on Epic and continuing through his solo 16-cut Live at Jacques. His five-piece aggregation, the Shelley Winters Project, has him looking and sounding more youthful than ever. "Don't Know What to Do" is more subdued than the rest of this disc, with heavy drums and violins — a very original song with lilting guitars and Berlin's trademark lost love vocal. "Always in Love" drives harder, and might have been a better opening track — it is Rick Berlin's anthem. With keyboards that sound like Verden Allen on Mott the Hoople's "All the Young Dudes," the singer's quirky musical changes are refined with this unit, more so than when he fronted the original Luna and Berlin Airlift, those bands being so highly experimental mainstream audiences missed the point — though in Boston they were one of the major draws in the 1980s. "Always in Love could be a track off of a Tracy Bonham disc, with heavy guitar blasts mixing with the violin. "Water," on the other hand, sounds like the Spirit "I Got a Line on You" riff inverted and revamped for 2001. "David Berndt's guitar is more contemporary than the Mick Ronsin-ish Steven Paul Perry who co-wrote with Berlin for many years after Randy Roos went solo. Comparing Steven Paul Perry's unreleased material (1999-2000 recordings) with Shelley Winter's Project, one can get a clear view of what each artist brought to the table. The vocalist/songwriter/artist that is Rick Berlin is the innovator whose ideas brought that intrigue and something special to their work. The Shaft-inspired "Blood" takes the style created by the Talking Heads and wraps it up in R&B/funk/pop/modern rock. The former Neighborhoods frontman and ex-Paul Westerberg guitarist David Minehan does a solid job on production, showing an impressive understanding of Rick Berlin's often hard to grasp vision. Indeed, Berlin is thematically all over the map here, and it is a good thing. There is a cohesion to Shelley Winters Project that eluded the aforementioned groups/projects that make up the former Rick Kinscherf's rich musical legacy. Although "Rock & Roll Romance" from Rick Berlin: The Movie (yet another band, the last incarnation of Luna/Berlin Airlift) and the song "Hunger Strikes" may be Rick Berlin's two finest moments in song thus far, Shelley Winters Project emerges as possibly his most polished and consistent album work to date. "Hopefully" would make George Martin proud, a production that the Beatles could sing on, but which is undeniably original, and shows Rick Berlin as the innovative artist Bostonians have appreciated and come to respect throughout his career. | | |
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