As you have probably guessed by now, I have a huge and very varied taste in music. Some would call it “eclectic,” but that’s usually a term that people use when they want to sound smarter than they really are. I blame two people for this; the first one is my dad. Living on a farm in Southwest Kansas, I used to help dad move farm equipment or check cattle all summer long. The pickup we had at the time only had an AM radio and could usually only get two and at most three stations. There was a country station and an adult contemporary station. So I could listen to Frank Sinatra then turn the station and listen to Hank Williams. This came in very handy when I was working at the bank, because during slow times, I will call these “work days,” me and another employee would play “name that tune,” to the elevator music being piped in. Due to my numerous hours listening to KGNO out of Dodge, I usually won this game. And really, what’s the point of spending endless summer hours in an un-air-conditioned pickup with only an AM radio if it doesn’t help you win meaningless trivia contests with your future coworkers. The other person that had an influence on my musical tastes is my grandma. One year for Christmas, she got me four cassettes to play in my cassette player. Oh yeah, we were big time, no 8-tracks for us. Anyway, the four tapes she gave me were as follows: Willie Nelson “Greatest Hits,” Michael Jackson “Thriller,” Alabama “40 Hour Week” and the best of the bunch, Barry Manilow “Greatest Hits Vol. II.” (Who knew he had 2 volumes of greatest hits, also FYI, he has a duet with Ronnie Millsap, pretty cool, huh?) So for those of you keeping score at home, (both stations carried Royals baseball by the way, so the phrase “keeping score at home” is inbred into my DNA at this time because Denny Mathews would say it a couple of million times a night) in the fifth grade I was rocking out to “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” “Billy Jean,” “Can’t Keep a Good Man Down” and “I Made It Through the Rain.” (Go ahead, look it up) So how’s that for eclectic? (See, it does make me seem smarter than I really am) So since I like a wide and varied arrange of music, it doesn’t bother me when an artist comes out with a slightly different sound than their earlier stuff. A new CD that has a slightly different sound than her earlier stuff is Kasey’s new CD, Carnival.
Now don’t get me wrong, there is some classic Kasey Chambers’ music included here, but her voice seems fuller than previous CD’s and the arrangements of the songs change to fit the lyrics of the songs. In other words, there is growth that I believe most that have loved her previous work will love even more, but then again, I’m eclectic. Another area of growth is deeper lyrics. Now, I usually hate to venture to far out of the shallow end, but she is turning into a master song writer that should be mentioned with some of the all time greats. One of my all time favorite songs is Not Pretty Enough, and there are some songs on here that can challenge that song as my favorite Chambers song. Sign on the Door, The Rain, Light up a Candle, Nothing at All, Hard Road and Colour of a Carnival are all great songs destined for greatness. (Not that the others are lacking in any way, just that some of these are my favorites) Hard Road is a duet with a guy by the name of Bernard Fanning. They do a wonderful job on this song (might even say it’s Manilow/Milsap good) that includes some of the different arrangements that I talked about earlier along with some great writing. In other words, the tri-fecta of music, lyrics and voices come together to produce the perfect song. Usually, I put a snippet of the lyrics into my reviews, but to do so here would not be fair to the songs. Only putting in one refrain would not do the whole song justice, so I suggest that you buy the CD and listen to all the songs in their entirety.
So, what have we learned today:
- I spent a lot of time with an AM radio as a kid.
- You don’t want to take me on in a game of name that tune.
- Kasey Chambers is getting better with each new CD.
- My musical tastes in the fifth grade were wide and varied.
- And, I have eclectic taste in music thanks to my dad and grandpa. (See, it does make me sound smarter than I really am)
I’ll give this CD 5 out of 5 Manilow/Milsap duets.