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Here's an album that
invites envy. Here's an album that tells it like it is- an album
that represents a musician not keeping his eye on the industry but
on his own adventurous vision. In 1993 when I first met Bruce Hornsby
he told me in no uncertain terms that he had no time for "the
posers" in the music industry - the wanna-be musicians whose
"whole trip is based on a pose." Before Christmas last
years he said "virtuosity has never been part of what Pop or
even Rock music was about." Big Swing Face will never make
it in the top ten. It will not be on high rotation on Much Music
or MTV but for the ones who love to mix up old formulas and expand
the range - so to speak this is for you. Quiet simply if pop's a
yawner for you then buy this album. Big Swing Face like its predecessors
serves up a reinvented Hornsby - a braver musician than the time
before. The album has almost no piano - interesting considering
his trademark chops on hits like 'The Way It Is' or the bouncy jazzy
'Talk of the Town'. Hornsby goes for a Bluesy funk feel on this
one and it's really a lot of fun. The first single 'Sticks and Stones'
about name calling that sticks to the bone is as catchy as anything
he's done before but it's fuzzy-keys sound doesn't fit in any particular
box. I know radio programmers they'll be scared off by this one.
The haunted house tale 'The Chill' is trademark Hornsby catchy harmonized
chorus with a hint of mystery. 'This Too Shall Pass' while having
a electronica drumbeat revisits that familiar Hornsby melancholy
feel with an underbelly of optimism. The sing-a-long playful 'Take
Out the Trash' again mixes the old with the new it's bluesy with
very modern drum loops. 'The Good Life' is a tale of retail therapy
"I don't need this but it's so cheap visions of a bargain in
my sleep" it's as if he's saying "the things we do to
keep smiling!" My only complaint about Big Swing Face is it's
length the whole album is only forty six minutes long. Bruce Hornsby
built this album by cutting the fat - sure he tore down the house
but he did recycle just enough. He's using new toys, having more
fun and it suits him fine. I can't wait to hear what he does next.
- by
John Beaudin |
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