Terry Eason - Sentimental Vanity
ARTIST.....: Terry Eason
TITLE......: Sentimental Vanity
LABEL......: GoJohnnyGo/Jam Records/Garage D'or
URL........: http://www.terryeason.com
RIP DATE...: Jan-03-2008
STORE DATE.: Oct-12-2007
GENRE......: Indie
QUALITY....: VBR / 44.1Hz / Joint-Stereo
SIZE.......: 56,5 MB
Track Listing:
01 - Megalomaniac 02:34
02 - Miracle Man 03:02
03 - Karma Bull 02:54
04 - Miss Egmont 02:10
05 - Bucky And The Foregone Conclusion 03:19
06 - Cartwheels And Cotillions 03:27
07 - Never Knew You 04:51
08 - Beginning Of The Sun 03:38
09 - Kohlrabi Dreams 05:47
10 - The Ballad Of Should Coulda Woulda 06:45
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38:27 min
Release Notes:
http://www.gojohnnygo.com
http://www.jamrecordings.com
http://www.garagedor.com
http://www.myspace.com/easonic
On "Sentimental Vanity" Terry Eason has managed quite a trick -
he's produced his most polished and yet rawest recording to date.
This disc expands the easonic soundscape with the use of grand
piano, string quartet and layers of vocal harmonies while
continuing with his inventive guitar and master songcraft. Various
influences pop up: you might hear Beatles, Kinks, Queen, Wilco,
They Might Be Giants, Flaming Lips, Todd Rundgren, XTC, Brian
Wilson, Randy Newman, Elton John or even Prince. His best effort
yet.
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"I've always been under the impression that schizophrenia is a bad
thing. Coupling it with a nasty case of ADHD sounds downright
unpleasant. But on Terry Eason's latest CD, Sentimental Vanity,
the local pianist/guitarist cleverly manages to corral 10 songs of
frenetic, quirky, spastic piano pop into a strangely cohesive
album that is at once intelligent and goofily fun. The complexity
and intricacies of this album can largely be credited to the
talent Eason recruited to record it, including Erik Fratzke on
bass, Jessy Greene on violin, and Ryan Lovan on drums.
Eason's songwriting is a little bit Tom Waits and a whole lot They
Might Be Giants. In fact, opening track "Megalomaniac" is so
reminiscent of TMBG that I couldn't help but groan a bit. Don't
get me wrong - I'm a fan of They Might Be Giants and their quirky,
catchy brand of goof rock. But I like it when they play it, not
when it's parroted by someone else. But I forgave Eason in the
time it took to listen to the next song, "Miracle Man." It's an
upbeat, jumpy sing-along with high-pitched backing vocals pulled
thin like taffy, though the lyrics couldn't be more morose:
"Forget about going to school today/And get to the hospital/Dad's
still alive but closed his eyes/And barely breathing." Somehow
Eason manages to make this mismatch between music and lyrics work,
illuminating the emotional complexity of the subject.
Eason finally relaxes a bit on "Never Knew You." Instead of
pounding on the piano like it's a snare drum, he lets this song
breathe with a fluidity and ease that is missing on the rest of
the album - a brief but necessary respite.
Sentimental Vanity is in turn exhilarating, exhausting,
confounding, and alarmingly intimate. You find yourself wanting to
dig around in Eason's head - and afraid of what you might find
there." (www.citypages.com)