Search - Seedy Arkhestra :: Puzzle

Chris Dowd Is Back with Love in his Heart

Eric Beaumont | Milwaukee, WI USA | 08/12/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Recorded in two weeks in New York City with an all-star cast including Don Byron, Hod David, N'dea Davenport, the late Jeff Buckley, and various players from the city's still thriving roots ska scene, 'Puzzle' is a big, beautiful portrait of New York that only great artists seem to capture.Chris Dowd, a supremely gifted singer/keyboardist/trombonist/songwriter from Los Angeles, has crafted a lovely, atypical roots ska 'n' reggae album on which every song save the very last one expands the instrumental palette of Jamaican music. "Baby Would You Take Care of Me" features banjo and other acoustic instruments, but it's straight-up rocksteady. "A Thousand Tears" is a big-band ska blowout with a gorgeous arrangement that feels like riding in a cab down Broadway with someone you love.The opening track, "You Can't Do That," (not the Beatles tune) starts with a U-Roy-styled deejay intro from Dowd that suggests he doesn't take himself too seriously, but also has the verbal and musical vocabulary to take modern music into the next level. The human factor is critical to this album. Machines simply can't do this kind of shing-a-ling.The bass-heavy dread vibe of "Burn" is offset by Dowd's cheeky observation, "You won't mind if I go offline," and the Christian imagery he brings to the militant meditation. N'dea Davenport guests on a sweet lovers rock tune, "How Will I Know" -- not the Whitney Houston tune -- and turns in the most impassioned performance of her career.There's more you must dig for yourself. 'Puzzle' is one of the most exhilarating albums I've ever heard."

Beautiful album!

Bunsen Burt | LA, CA | 11/25/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love this album. Great songs. Especially "Despite the Tears"! What a beautiful piece of music. I listened to it when it first came out and it took a while for it to hit me. It was actually many years between listens when I finally appreciated it. I think at first listen I was looking for "Give a Monkey a Brain, Pt. 2" and it is definitely not that. Anyway, I know that Chris Dowd is working on his next album with his new group the Ultra Infidels and I have high hopes for that."

Brilliant

D-man | Los Angeles CA | 09/17/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was always a fan of fishbone especialy the songs written by Chris Dowd, when I discovered this album I was excited to here where he would go with this album and i wasnt dissapointed one bit this is the natural progression of a truly talented man."