(Between A) Rock And A Hard Place.
Jason Stein | San Diego, CA United States | 05/05/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)
"The Cutting Crew emerged in 1987 with their smash hit "(I Just) Died In Your Arms" from their debut album "Broadcast", which also spawned the lesser known "One For The Mockingbird" and another top ten hit "I've Been In Love Before" before falling off the radar. If you were paying any attention then you knew that in 1989 they released an almost equally pleasing sophomore album "The Scattering" which failed to chart, and it faile to have a hit single. Then, in 1992, the only remaining members Nick van Eede and Kevin Scott MacMichael released what seemed to be the last Cutting Crew cd "Compus Mentus", which also failed to chart or have any hit singles.
Flash forward to 2006, and "Grinning Souls", the first Cutting Crew cd in 14 years. Sadly, MacMichael died within the past few years, and now only Nick van Eede remains. It must have seemed like a great idea to get Terry Brown, the main producer of "Broadcast", back on board, but the magical spark that pervaded "Broadcast" and even "The Scattering" is now gone. Nick van Eede barely sounds like anything Cutting Crew.
However, the new cd holds together fairly well as a whole, but not so much when each track is graded on an individual basis. This is a more mature Cutting Crew effort, and well, it might just be a Nick van Eede solo album really. There's one track co-written with MacMichael called "Apparent Depth", but musically it doesn't amount to much. The best tracks are the two ballads, "Hard On You" and "Silhouette" (which I think is about MacMichael). There are a couple of One For The Mockingbird-ish rockers like "Boomerang" and "Understudies", but they don't even match the exuberance of "One For The Mockingbird". The title track is a memorable number much in the same vein as "The Scattering". The rest of the tracks are just okay--not great, not bad, just kind of there. The main difference between this Cutting Crew cd and, say, "Broadcast", is that "Grinning Souls" sounds underproduced, like a bunch of demos strung together rather than a multi-layered, high-tech production that was "Broadcast".
What will be interesting to see is whether van Eede plans to do another album after this, or whether this is just going to be a one-off recording. I think it's nice to have van Eede back, and the music on "Grinning Souls" is a decent return, but I feel like asking, "What else have you got?""
This is excellent!.
David | Seattle,WA | 07/11/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I edited this and it didn't go through the first time so....
I was afraid when I bought this cd it might have a sound similar to the dumb-downed rock of today but instead this cd sounds great. I like the harder songs like "Get Up And Get Over"(GUAGOI.) I l especially love the long drawn-out ending of GUAGOI starting when Nick sings "aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!" it has a great power-rock ending with a tinge of psychedelic hard rock with Nick's voice echoing which really sounds cool; also cool is the ending music in GUAGOI which sounds as if it was performed in an outdoor or arena concert. The song GUAGOI is the highlight of the cd for me. In the beginning of GUAGOT someone says "LISTEN" and the accent is so strong I wonder if that is the way they sound when talking and not singing LOL.
I even like the eerie songs such as "Capture" with its captivating, sad, lonely sound. Part of Nick's singing on "Capture" uses sound effects as if he is a on a hilltop or in a mountain valley singing "Capture" from afar and it is great with its eerie and mesmerizing sound but the song is too short. Also slightly haunting is "Grinning Souls" with its haunted beginning which sounds in its very first few moments like a musical death march with its electric guitar and hymns but quickly turns into a soft rock musical ode.
Synthesizer-based "Lauren's Theme" would have been good if some singing was in it.
"Understudies" sounds like a harder bubble gum rock/pop combo and is another great song too. "Hard On You" is a little like today's rock but it's still sounds good.
"Left of Heaven" has harder rock elements to it also. It's also another very good song.
I don't care for the violin in the beginning of "No Problem Child"
This music is great and has some really cool sounds, mesmerizing effects, and hard guitar work which is done incredibly well but this is not dumb-downed like grunge or the so-called "regular guy" junky music we find everywhere today. Instead, this music has an inspired, energized rock sound along with some sentimental reflection in a few songs, all of it sounding good which is so hard to find today( for me anyway.)
This is one (if not the only for me) example of a retro artist making new music which is not only very good, but better than their music done years ago. This is the best new rock music I have bought since the early 1990s. Some songs have an inspired, positive, power-rock sound with decent amounts of hard guitar while others have a slightly eerie, softer, toned-down sound with some really cool sound effects but there are no simple, dumb-downed grunge or dull acoustic-only songs on here. Thank God! Sorry for being redundant.
I love the way Nick plays around with his voice in different ways on different songs and this cd proves Nick is one the few men out there who has a good singing voice. Sometimes he uses a hard rock voice, then a soft voice, sometimes using technology to make it sound eerie, echoing, or mesmerizing, all which are accompanied by great, energized music which uses cool sounds and effects and a good assortment of instruments which I can't identify. The production and sound quality is great, and there is a tea pot whistling and also laughter but that was most assuredly intended.
I'm glad Nick and his crew made this music which is so much better than today's dumb-downed grunge-tainted rock. Overall this is an incredibly good cd especially when you compare it to the trash we have been stuck with in the US for the past 10-15 years... great musicians, great harder guitar work, great sound effects, great singing styles from Nick. They made some musical art with this one. Hopefully people will get to hear it somewhere even though the odds are against this considering what the music industry wants to promote.
I hope these guys make more of this type of music. Maybe making music outside of Hollywood or even outside of America is the answer to getting/making cool music? Maybe Nick and his crew just know how to play instruments and choose good sounds and singing styles? Maybe both?
I'm actually a little bit amazed that something new sounds this good to me when I have heard nothing but raunchy grunge, dumb-downed "regular guy" music and other over-praised junk for WAY too long. I thought Nick had a good voice back when I first heard the Cutting Crew back in 1987 and I liked their songs but this cd proves Nick and his band are skilled artists and musicians and not just people who were good at making a few songs 20 years ago. I would never had thought he (or anyone else) would not only maintain a good-sounding voice, but also improve it which he has almost 20 years later. I also never would have thought that any "new" music would sound very good either, but both the singing and music on this Cutting Crew cd are great.
"
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1