If you think of New Orleans, you think of Mardi Gras, cajun
\ncooking, Mike Ditka and the Saints… sorry, but we still miss him
\nin Chicago… and some good ol’ Cajun and Zydeco tunes flowing out
\nof the mouth of the Mississippi. It’s a unique area of the country
\nwith a flavor all its own – and though I can’t claim to have ever
\nvisited it, I can tell it’s a taste one has to get used to.<\/p>\n
How can I say that after pleading such ignorance? Just listen to
\nlocal troubador Joe Tullos’s debut release
\nThe Scoundrel’s Waltz<\/i>, which fights off murky production and
\na slow start to prove its mettle.<\/p>\n
Tullos’s love of music led him, according to his bio, to sneak
\ninto a recording studio nights to make his recordings. The deal
\nthat ensued when he finally ‘fessed up, along with the friendships
\nhe struck with members of Squirrel Nut Zippers and the late,
\nlamented Blind Melon, led him to this CD.<\/p>\n
Too bad he took with him producer Mike Napolitano, producer of
\nthe final Blind Melon release, who lays on a layer of sonic gunk to
\nthe CD. The drums are anything but crisp, and tend to be buried in
\nthe mix – in fact, the whole mix is murky, which I can’t
\nunderstand. In his defense, the disc gets better around the midway
\npoint – but not by much.<\/p>\n
Part of the problem is Tullos’s singing style. His delivery
\noccasionally sounds like Lenny Kravitz (“Love Generator”), other
\ntimes like Matthew Sweet (“Hopeless The Clown”). And he does have
\nan emotion-packed voice, but when he’s even a shade off, it’s
\npainful. Early in the second track “Jet Junction,” he misses a note
\nand tries to slide back into it, which is grating on the ears. I’ve
\nlistened to this track around a dozen times, and I still cringe
\nwhen I hit that point.<\/p>\n
So all is lost, right? Wrong. Tullos is able to shake off these
\ntwo problems about four songs into
\nThe Scoundrel’s Waltz<\/i>; the disc greatly improves starting
\nwith the track “Every Angel.” At this point, Tullos shows his flair
\nfor songwriting, and his delivery gets better. Also, his big-name
\nfriendships help the disc out, though I would have been interested
\nto hear a band made up of locals perform the same numbers. I just
\nthink it would have brought the New Orleans flavor out a bit more.
\n(While I am not very familiar with Squirrel Nut Zippers, the
\ninclusion of Glen Graham, Rogers Stevens and Brad Smith from Blind
\nMelon give the disc a more rocky texture.)<\/p>\n
The New Orleans influence is felt on cuts like “Dominique,” with
\nthe touches of French thrown in for good measure. But the highlight
\nof this disc is “Hopeless The Clown,” a song looking at the
\ndifficulties a man down on his luck faces as well as how heartless
\nhis fellow man (and woman) can be. I sometimes find myself thinking
\nabout Judd Winick’s cartoon creation “Frumpy The Clown” (bring it
\nback,
\nChicago Sun-Times<\/i>!), though our hero in this song is much
\nmore deserving of our empathy. Plus, he’s a hell of a lot less
\ncynical than Frumpy, though he has every right to be so. I find
\nmyself constantly going back to this track.<\/p>\n
From then on,
\nThe Scoundrel’s Waltz<\/i> shines on songs like “Sunshine Dance,”
\n“Gravity Street” and “Earthen Chains,” the latter featuring Tullos
\non banjo – just one of a barrage of instruments Tullos plays. (His
\ndobro work on “Dominique” is subtle, but moving.)<\/p>\n
Many listeners may find this to be a difficult listen,
\nespecially getting past the hump of the first three tracks.
\nHowever, once that hurdle is cleared, the disc proves itself worthy
\nof your time and money. Problem is, many listeners may not have
\nthat kind of patience, having been raised in a single-driven top-40
\nradio environment. My thought: that’s why they put the “fast
\nforward” button on the CD player.<\/p>\n
Tullos is still young and growing in maturity, both in
\nmusicianship and songwriting.
\nThe Scoundrel’s Waltz<\/i> offers you an interesting, but flawed,
\nportrait of the artist as a young man. It’s not your typical swamp
\nmusic you’d expect, nor is it down-and-out rock. Tullos
\nsuccessfully manages to create his own distinct style of music.
\nNow, his challenge is to expand on it and keep us interested. It
\nwill be interesting to see how he chooses to carve out his own road
\nto stardom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5804],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-35700","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-joe-tullos","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35700"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35700"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}