It has been a long, long time since Randy Stonehill was that wild haired spacey kid who ended up in a sewer only to be eaten along with Cindy Williams by the "Son of the Blob". The end of 2002 brings us a more mature Randy who has at least for this outing set aside the persona of the slightly, did I say slightly, demented "Uncle Randy." This new collection of songs for the most part brings us the more serious side of a man who was always a very gifted songwriter, but one who often hid that side amidst a certain amount of goofiness. Without a doubt this is his best collection of tunes since Wonderama and Equator. Randy is backed up by a very competent band on this project that includes: Baron Miller on drums, Ian Kilpatrick on bass, Manuel Luz on keyboards and Ed Gardner on percussion. I would love to see these guys out on the road performing as a unit.
The overall feel to many of these songs is one of longing touched with a bit of sadness. Two perfect examples of this are "Janey" and "Last Song For Michael." Randy's songs were always the perfect vehicle for story telling and with the release of this album he has completely mastered this craft. These are not only songs, they are mini stories which are sung instead of spoken. The two duets on the album, one with Phil Keaggy and the other with Sara Groves, especially the one with Sara are absolute perfection. This is not by any means a rock 'n' roll album, it falls into the singer songwriter genre and that is just fine with me, this is some good stuff. I have seen Randy quite a number of times over the last 30 years, this collection of songs only makes me want to relive that experience again. I can recommend this album to anyone without a single hesitation.
5 tocks
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