Games, Whitehouse

Published by admin Aug 2008 under Pop, Uncategorized

Jeremiah Sutherland / Bullfrog music

Physics geeks like to distinguish between potential and kinetic energy…a ball on a table is all potential energy…a ball falling through the air has kinetic energy. The term "potential" is overused in the entertainment biz so I’m not going to use it here…Whitehouse is all kinetic energy. Listening to this CD is like taking the local express train to music Nirvana.

The band members come from all over and have lived all over: Spain, Germany, Australia, South Africa, Sweden. They are Men Of The World and the music they make is cosmopolitan, varied and accomplished. The songs are a mix of English and Spanish language lyrics with good ballads, Western-style guitar riffs and, I think, just a touch of African spices added.

There’s some affecting Spanish ballads (and ballads always sound great when sung in one of the Latin languages) that are performed with feeling and skill. But don’t get the idea that this album is just Latin. In fact, the Latin rhythms don’t put in an appearance as the main feature of all the songs (that would be too easy…and boring).

Added to the feast is some good old fashioned Pop music combined with thoughtful lyrics and creative arrangements. You get horns showing up occasionally, not dominating the mix, but acting as counterpoint to everything else that’s going on. The horn thing seems to be making comeback (listen to Jeffy Jolly’s work for Blues horn examples) and I think we should welcome it.

I particularly enjoyed "The Games People Play", "Nobody To Blame" (sounds like anything from Al Stewart’s "Year of the Cat") and "Sol En El Portal".

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