Search - Silver :: Musician

Finally 1976 Silver album on CD!

Fabio NUCCI | Italy | 08/08/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you love 70's Us country-pop you have to listen, at least once, to a song as "It's gonna be alright". Maybe the best combination of soul painted voices into pop situation: thinking to James Taylor and Carole King but even to Terence Boylan and Danny O'Keefe. This record is a sort of instant full immersion in a long road home through dusty sunny roads, a delicate excursion into melody. Finding it now in a digital recording means that this kind of music will never go out."

One-Hit Wonders? NOT!

Chuck Potocki | Highland, Indiana | 06/09/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Finally someone had the good sense to reissue this album! I remember hearing Silver for the first time in 1977 when "Wham Bam Shang-A-Lang" was practically all over the radio at that time--unfortunately, now that song has been all but forgotten, and the subject of "where are they now?" segments on oldies radio programs. How sad that is, because despite it's infectiously catchy hooks and melody, "Wham Bam" displayed top-notch musicianship, and proved to be the exception to the rule that Top 40 pop songs were dumb, sappy and groan-inducing. An incredible feat, considering the song was released when disco (and the Bee Gees in particular) were beginning to dominate the airwaves. Apart from "Wham Bam", this album contains some excellent songs that should've been hits, as well--the wonderful "Trust In Somebody", "Goodbye, So Long", and the ironic and haunting title track, "Musician (Not An Easy Life)", which was written and sung by keyboardist Brent Mydland, who would later gain greater notoriety as a member of the Grateful Dead. Sadly, Mydland died of a drug overdose in 1990, another great talent lost far too soon and at the peak of his career--knowing that his life was claimed by the excesses of the fame he sought, it's somewhat cryptic listening to him sing the lyrics "And I think I'm learnin' firsthand/about what it's like to be/to be a musician, and I can see/it's not an easy life, it's not an easy life to live". If you want to hear one of the great bands of the '70s, as well as the beginning of Brent Mydland's recording career, buy this CD--Silver were a lot more than "one-hit wonders"; they made great music with depth and substance, performed with an unusual passion and energy, things that in their time were sorely lacking in rock music."