{"id":37910,"date":"2004-04-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2004-04-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/something-beautiful\/"},"modified":"2004-04-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2004-04-05T00:00:00","slug":"something-beautiful","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/something-beautiful\/","title":{"rendered":"Something Beautiful"},"content":{"rendered":"

Perhaps it’s the curmudgeon in me, but I occasionally mutter
\nthat I knew about Great Big Sea before most people in the US did. I
\nremember paying ruinous rates for import copies of
\nUp<\/i> and
\nPlay<\/i> long before someone at Rounder\/Zoe got a good idea and
\nsigned the boys from Newfoundland up. However, it’s impossible to
\nremain grumpy very long while listening to GBS; they’re just so
\ndarn…joyful. Perhaps even better, they’ve grown as musicians;
\nstarting with their groundbreaking
\nTurn<\/i>, they became something more than just a ceili band, a
\nsynthesis of rock, folk, Celtic, and a few other influences whose
\nwhole is distinctly more than the sum of its parts. As such,
\nthey’ve become huge in Canada, with their last studio CD,
\nSea Of No Cares<\/i>, debuting at number one on the Canadian
\nalbum charts.<\/p>\n

However, the road developed some bumps recently. Longtime
\nbassist Darrell Power left the band in January of 2003 after ten
\nyears of no lineup changes. So as GBS headed to the studio to
\nfollow up
\nSea<\/i>, there were some questions.<\/p>\n

Fear not, O Ye DV Faithful. Consider ’em answered. The seventh
\ndisc from Great Big Sea,
\nSomething Beautiful<\/i>, is just that. Alan Doyle, Sean McCann,
\nand Bob Hallett, joined by drummer Kris MacFarlane and Moxy Fruvous
\nbassist Murray Foster, have turned in a tight, concise, and
\ndownright tasty disc. Having now seen them live (check out our
\nconcert review
\nhere<\/a>), I think I can safely
\nsay that GBS takes names, kicks butt, and can get ME — a rather
\nlarge and immobile individual — to dance.<\/p>\n

The production on
\nSomething Beautiful<\/i> is immaculate, handled by Michael
\nPhillip Wojewoda, best known for producing Barenaked Ladies’ early
\nCDs and Ashley MacIsaac’s groundbreaking
\nhi how are you today<\/i>. The hallmark of this CD is vocal
\nharmonies that are even more intricate than past GBS CDs, fueled by
\nthe addition of Foster’s hallmark baritone. There are also a few
\nsong surprises, including a lovely cover of Runrig’s “The Pride Of
\nSummer” (retitled to “Bang The Drum”), and a rather interesting
\nsongwriting contribution from Bob Hallett — more on that in a
\nmoment.<\/p>\n

Highlights include the driving opening track “Shines Right
\nThrough Me”; Sean McCann’s gentle vocals on “Summer”; Alan Doyle’s
\ntribute to his new niece, “Sally Ann”; the truly wonderful “Let It
\nGo”, which gets my vote for the best song likely to be overlooked
\non this CD; the traditional ballad “John Barbour”; the elegant and
\nmagnificent “Lucky Me”…then, of course, there’s “Helmethead”.<\/p>\n

Remember I mentioned Bob Hallett’s songwriting? He has given us
\nthe hilariously funny “Helmethead”, a song that mixes “I’m A Rover”
\nwith the Hanson Triplets from
\nSlap Shot<\/i> to tell the story of a hockey bruiser who has more
\nluck with the ladies than with his skates. I’m an American, I’m not
\nsupposed to laugh at hockey jokes. This should be illegal, darn
\nit.<\/p>\n

I could go on and on like this, but it’s taking away from time I
\ncould listen to this CD.
\nSomething Beautiful<\/i> is an early contender for 2004’s Top Ten
\nand a magnificent piece of work from the most original band
\ncurrently recording. Do yourself a favor and pick it up today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":26658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6007],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-37910","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-great-big-sea","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37910","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\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37910"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}