From the opening strains of Paul Franklin's steel guitar, the barking of dogs, and the velvety-smooth vocals of Paul Brandt, this collection of "live" tracks is instantly engaging. While Paul's previous four CDs are fully and completely C&W in nature, except maybe the rockin' 'Let's Live It Up' from That's the Truth, he seems to have decided to lose the vocal twang essential to a C&W song for at least half the tracks while still keeping the instrumentation rootsy in nature.
His vocals are so completely versatile in nature, he's also managed to squeeze in a lounge-lizard bluesy theme, 'If This Isn't Love' (co-written by Gene Pastilli), which could have been recorded by Frank Sinatra or any number of torch singers, and a sexy, jazzed-up Django Reinhardt-like 'Canadian Man' (composed by Steven Graham Pineo and discovered by Paul through Neil MacGonigill) which definitely has major airplay written all over it.
'Warm Sunny Beaches', while a charming song in itself, sounds very similar to Murray McLachlan's 'Carmelita', not so much in the chorus, but definitely in the scoring of the verses, the difference of course being that Paul's song is about appreciating carefree and warm winter days, especially when one happens to be from Canada (Alberta, in Paul's case), while 'Carmelita' is about being strung-out on heroin on the outskirts of town. 'You Can Cry If You Want To' continues the Spanish feel. 'Virgil and the Holy Ghost' is a very pretty ballad, both vocally and instrumentally.
Paul is excellently backed-up by the aforementioned Paul Franklin on steel guitar, Eddie Bayer on drums, and the ubiquitous Michael Rhodes on bass. Larry Beiard contributes on acoustic guitar, Tim Akres on keys and vibes, and Andrew Ramsay on electric guitar.
It's really a very laid-back, relaxing CD, his best in my opinion, and ultimately very pleasurable. I'm not sure whether fans of his earlier CDs would appreciate the change in style, but judging by the "live" audience reactions on this recording, it will certainly garner a much larger and possibly new fan club.
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