I have been reviewing music in some way, shape or form now for
\n17 years, and I still experience moments when I put in a disc from
\nan unknown artist, hit “play”… and find myself sitting up in my
\neasy chair, screaming, “What the hell was
\nthat<\/i>?!?” Sometimes, it’s an expression of disbelief that
\nsomeone would put out something so horrible that poison control
\ncenters would use it to induce vomiting.<\/p>\n
And then, there are the times I make that exclamation in
\npleasure, as if I’ve come across a $20 bill while cleaning the
\npockets of my pants on laundry day. Such was the case when I first
\nheard Philadelphia-based singer\/songwriter Richard Kaufmann.
\nImagine Elvis Costello and Neil Young rolled together, with a
\nhealthy dose of Van Morrison thrown in just for flavor. That still
\ndoesn’t quite do
\nCommon Senses<\/i>, Kaufmann’s debut release, the amount of
\njustice it deserves, but it’s a good springboard to introduce you
\nto an artist who you’re sure to hear a lot more from.<\/p>\n
One has to admit off the bat that Kaufmann’s singing range is a
\nbit limited – normally something I’d call a weakness in an artist.
\nBut in Kaufmann’s case, it almost adds a charming aspect to his
\nvocal delivery – just like you’re hearing someone pour his entire
\nbeing into these songs in case he were never to get a chance at
\nmaking an album again. Not that there’s a sense of urgency to these
\n10 songs, but Kaufmann most definitely gives his whole self in
\nthese performances, and it pays off.<\/p>\n
Stylistically, Kaufmann is all over the musical map (thus
\nearning the reference to Costello), yet he handles styles from
\ncountry with a funk tinge to it (“You Never Listen”) to all-out
\nalt-rock (“Shiver”) to pop balladry (“Shooting Stars & A Full
\nMoon,” “Ruby Sue”) with such agility that it seems almost natural
\nfor the music to be so eclectic. Admittedly, Kaufmann’s vocal
\ndelivery takes a moment or two to get used to, but he soon proves
\nhimself more than capable on
\nCommon Senses<\/i>.<\/p>\n
The only mis-step I can find is the closing track “Le Velo Noir”
\n– not that it’s a bad track, but that it seems almost
\nanti-climactic to the whole experience. Granted, it’s only a
\ntwo-minute-plus ballad, but it somehow just doesn’t sound like it
\nfits into the big picture – and, no, I’m not faulting Kaufmann’s
\nchoice to deliver the lyrics in French. Chalk this one up to
\npersonal preference, I guess.<\/p>\n
This one slip notwithstanding, Kaufmann makes a strong case for
\nhis musical future on
\nCommon Senses<\/i>, and demonstrates that he has both the talent
\nand heart to be given a chance on the front lines. Sure, such an
\nalbum might have fit in better in the late ’70s (around the same
\ntime that Costello broke forth), but there’s still an argument to
\nbe made that such music is commercially viable today. Besides, if
\nanyone deserves a chance to prove its mettle, why not give Kaufmann
\nthe benefit of the doubt? Seems to me like he’s earned that chance
\nwith this disc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6737],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-37379","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-richard-kaufmann","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37379","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=37379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37379"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37379"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}