Dan Reading is a new name to me, so it was great to hear this good album. Dan who currently lives in North Carolina, has been honing his talent around Memphis and North Carolina. The album has 13 tracks on it, and is quite varied. All are original songs by Dan, except for "Stormy Monday" Dan plays guitar, drums and sings so he is kept busy throughout.
"Wait n' See" starts the CD off at a steady pace and is a bit of a throw away song,
but it still sounds good. "Beer Goggles" is featured twice, the first time as a Studio
recording and as the last track on the album in it's original 4 track demo form. "Beer
Goggles" is a fine song and is a mellow melodic piece of blues telling the tale of
how good his girl looks while he is under the influence of beer, yet the sting of the
tale is that she really looks worse than any nightmare he's ever had!, there is also
some great slow blues guitar work during the song from Dan. "Stormy Monday", name
checks some of the greatest blues songs and artists at the commencement of the
tune. Dan then settles into an echoing vocal, which sees the song starts off at a slow pace
and builds to an urgent pace, only to drop away to a good leisurely pace. "Baby Love" no not the Supremes one, this is Dan on solo acoustic guitar accompanied by his gritty vocal, and very good it is too. "Caused My Heart To Stray" is a great organ led modern sounding Soul/Blues piece of delight, most defiantly one of my favourites on the album.
"Talk Ta Me" is another song with that lovely organ and I suppose you could say,
this number is slightly influenced by Rap and Hip Bop which gives it a fresh sounding feel. I loved the tinkering of the piano keys at the start of "So What! (What's Love Anyway?)" which adds to the laid back feel of the song, which features Dan in a mournfully reflective look at love.
I liked the feel of this album and the songs on a whole are good. It's a good start
hopefully to a successful career for Dan Reading. The CD is worth seeking out and can be obtained from CD Baby.
CD Baby Website is www.cdbaby.com
Dan Reading's website is www.danblues.com
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