CD - James Hill - Man with a Love Song
Track list:
Hand Over My Heart
Any Old Lover
High Demand
Lying In Wait
Assam / Like a Bird
The Satisfactory Waltz
Soap and Water
What Would You Have Me Do?
Indecision Rag
Man With a Love Song
Heart-shaped Tattoo
You Should See Me Now
Voodoo Forever, Aloha (Part 1)
Voodoo Forever, Aloha (Part 2)
From James Hill's website we learn that after recording with Anne "True Love Don't Wheep", the first record in which we hear James' voice, both performers realized that writing songs and singing was becoming an important part of their expressiveness that they could no longer keep confined to free time within the walls of their homes. Meeting James Hil in Los Angeles and talking about the chaos of the fair, the noise, the tiredness that a day of meetings with all his stimuli leaves you in the evening at the hotel, he told me that to find his serenity, to refocus, he had begun to write songs.
this album is therefore the result of a maturity not only musical but also emotional reached by a soloist always on the go, always star of the evening. it was a surprise in all respects: the title could make you think of a sweet singer-songwriter's record, a soft country waiting room ... instead each song has its own peculiar character, ranging from bluegrass to jazz club, with emotions but never sentimentality, often self-irony, always refinement in the arrangements. here, the thing I like most about this record are the arrangements that are always elegant, transparent, never redundant, never with a note more than necessary and for this reason very enjoyable. when a fruit is good and ripe it does not need seasonings and sauces but we love to bite it like this, naturally. even the lyrics are beautiful, deep and never taken for granted. in the midst of all this we always find the great james ukulelist, the ukulele is always present and always treated at high levels, never relegated to the role of mere accompaniment, always active in the dialogue of the parties. a record that amazed me from the first to the last note leaving me always admired.