| SEBASTIAN AGNELLO - A MUSIC LEGEND AT 50 COLLECTIVE CD REVIEW (CONTINUED) |
| "Modern Day Cowboy" (In Memory of Lyle Vallentyne) sees the return of Mickey Andrews on steel guitar (if only on "The Jogger"); he contributed more thoroughly on pedal steel guitar on Full Moon and Welfare Cheques, but that duty has been given over to the equally talented Dennis Conn here. Mike Elliott also guests on fiddle and Steve Petrie on steel guitar. The title track, starting off similarly, and maybe deliberately, to Fleetwood Mac's "Break the Chain", is obviously a tribute to a man who respects and keeps the tradition of the wild and free "cowboy", but who just coincidentally prefers to ride a motorbike rather than a horse. "If I Had a Boat" is a weird, corny little ditty written by Lyle Lovett, but it's kind of catchy, just the same. I didn't care for "The Heart" (written by Kris Kristofferson), but the original version probably sounds totally different, as Mr. Kristofferson's vocal approach has a much smoother flow to it. I understand why Seb chooses to record cover versions of other well-known musicians, but he really does sound more natural and pleasant when he's singing his own compositions. "Walkaway" is a perfect example, because rather than imitating another song/singer, he blends elements of both "Girl with the Faraway Eyes" and "To All the Girls I've Loved Before" to create a brand-new classic song of his own. "Heavy Metal" (Guy Clark, Jim McBride), "The Jogger" (Shel Silverstein) and even Bobby Darin's "Distractions Pt. 1" are just too Dukes of Hazzard for me, but I'm sure most of the male population of the world would relate to and immensely enjoy these tracks. The steel guitars are the only saving graces in them, where I'm concerned. There was no way I could not like "Overtime", a Seb original (with Mike Elliott on fiddle), and a welcome change of pace to a kind of swingy rhythm and blues. It actually sounds like it came from the same rhythmic mold as Black'n'Blues' "Ugly As She Can Be". It would have made for a better closing track, to sustain an overall positive impression of the CD. "The Take It Easy Trailer Park" (Kinky Friedman, Van Dyke Parks) is another interesting tune, but it seems to lose something in the interpretation, with the instrumentation being kind of choppy. "Northern Boy" (Randy Newman), another macho manifesto with a marching rhythm is Seb's always-welcome patriotic nod to Canada, making specific reference to Ottawa and Saskatchewan. However, just as in the next tune "Alright Guy" (Todd Snider), Seb's vocals tend to suffer when they are forced into the lower range, taking on an unpleasant "gruntiness" which isn't really necessary, even with those male-oriented lyrics. There's no doubt in my mind that Sebastian Agnello is one the best lyrical composers in Canada. I find it very difficult to skip over the rare tracks where the instrumentation doesn't appeal to me, because the lyrics are too powerful to miss! |
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