by Josh Zuckerman
www.joshzuckerman.com
Originally from St. Louis, Josh Zukerman rocks in New York these days. Some thoughts on his album A Totally New Sensation. Josh does lead vocals, plays guitar and violin; credit goes to Ed Dalley for drums, bass, and synth. Here’s a rundown of the first six songs, played during the workday.
Totally New Sensation – it’s rock n roll, no fuckin’ around here...the title line of the title track is a great hook to invite you in, some of the lyrics sound crammed into the melody. I like the chorus melody, not in love with the verse. The beat’s cool, the brass break in the middle adds a nice touch not often heard in rock.
Been Thinkin’ – the words fit better, in fact they’re imaginitively packed into a melody, some good raw sexuality goin’ on here, but I miss the hook of the first track. This time Josh trades the brass for a violin. He bows a mean fiddle.
Spiritual – gets ya from the gitgo with a cool guitar groove. builds slowly and doesn’t go over the top. Very nice.
Forgiveness – something in me wants to hear some more live energy, or maybe I just need to crank it. Josh plays guitars, I love the arrangements here, once again some odd choices, to me at least, of fitting in the lyrics to the melody.
Karma – yeah, this needs to be turned up and in a club. Punctuated by brass by Steve Jankowski & sax by Stephen Tuzeneu; they're multitracked, but very clean. Vocals are sharp, creative (and fast) alternation between solo singing and double tracking. Melissa Chill helps on the backup vocals. This one he does everything right.
When Love Comes Back Again – a bit “sweeter”. Once again, fab arrangement. Love the guitar playing; I think that’s what I’ll take away most from this music. He might do well to avoid overused phrases like “if you love something let it go,” or “all we need is love”... such things appear throughout the CD.
Well ok, that’s half way through the CD – need to get back to work. It ends with a cover of Charlie Daniels’ "The Devil Went Down To Georgia." It gives Josh a chance to show off this fiddling, but it sounds too much like the original track. Maybe next time he’ll rock out on a Bach partita.
There are things as a songwriter I’d have done differently, but they’re not my songs. All in all this is some solid stuff. Great party music too, if you like your parties rockin’. Enjoy.
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