Though this might be Rich Krueger’s first album, he’s been playing with his band The Dysfunctionells since 1985, as well as recording with Peter Stampfel. With that much experience, it’s really about time he put his name on a proper album. <\/p>\n
\u201cA Stoopid Broken Heart\u201d starts the listen off with a sparse guitar and fiddle before moving into fuller folk and Americana warmness, where pedal steel complements Krueger’s mountain-esque, rough vocals. \u201cThe Gospel According To Carl\u201d follows with sophisticated keys and, much like the first song, it builds into a larger arrangement with accordions, trumpets, and a fleet of background vocals. \u201c’77\/17\u201d finds Krueger and company at more of a classic rock juncture with biting guitar solos and blues rock, punctuated by hammond organ and saxophones.<\/p>\n
Some of the best tunes here reside in the middle, such as the upbeat and fiddle precision of \u201cA Short One On Life,\u201d which sounds the song The Blues Traveler forgot to write, and the cultured, playful \u201cThen Jessica Smiled,\u201d where backing female vocals, a standup bass, and harmonicas really make this one of the most varied offerings. <\/p>\n
The second half of the album begins soft and introspective with \u201cCan’t See Me In This Light\u201d before moments of loud percussion meet the dreamy backing vocals, making this probably the closest pure rock song here. \u201cThe Wednesday Boys\u201d is the closest to jazz, with seven minutes of breezy, dreamy, calmness, and as we near the end, the album drifts into soft rock territory with \u201cWhat We Are,\u201d which would be ideal for any easy listening station on the FM dial.<\/p>\n
It’s not too often you’ll hear a strong debut album from a 58 year old, but few people have the storytelling ability and songwriting chops of Krueger. Similarities to Randy Newman and Van Morrison are inevitable here, and even if Krueger thinks that life ain’t long, what is long is this album, with many tracks surpassing the five minute mark. Thankfully, Krueger’s gospel of country, rock, R&B, and jazz is executed well enough to keep us entertained for the entire trip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":33583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[10238],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-45404","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-rich-krueger","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45404","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\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45404"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=45404"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=45404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}