Gingersol - Eastern

  by Geraint Jones

published: 23 / 7 / 2004

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Formed in 1995 in Los Angeles and based there for several years, Gingersol have since relocated to New York. Several intermittent releases and quite a few personnel shuffles have ensued since then. The core of the band is now just a duo – principal songwriter, front- man and sole remaining founder member Steve Tagliere and occasional songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Seth Rothschild. The line-up on this album is augmented at various times by several members of UK ex-pats Minibar, the Wallflowers’ Rami Jaffee and frequent gun for hire, the estimable Drew Glackin (Tandy, the Silos, Jim Roll etc). Everything on ‘Eastern’ slots together well enough – very loosely we are talking Americana-tinged guitar-based pop. It’s all performed with accomplishment and Tagliere has a polished, gravel-like voice. Unfortunately though for the most part the album leaves me quite cold, which is a pity as I have enjoyed some of their previous output, especially their 1995 debut EP. It’s all just a little too polite and clean cut and the mid-paced arrangements of most of the songs seem to blur into one whole and consequently fail to make much of an impact. While the band explores some interesting lyrical themes, musically they seem to have smoothed off any distinct edge they once had. ‘Eastern’ is by no means bad but there’s also very little here that makes the album stand out from the crowd, which is disappointing given the calibre of the additional people brought in to flesh out the songs. I’m sure they can do better than this so a return to the drawing board will hopefully reap future dividends.

Track Listing:-

1 I Tried
2 Blink
3 You and Your Clouds
4 Please Let Me Go
5 Yesterday
6 None of My Friends
7 Dunce Cap
8 Birthday Girl
9 I Did
10 The Longest Word
11 Rome's Behind Us but the World Is Round
12 A Great Day for a War
13 Empty Canteen

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