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Play Just Because Play I Wish Play Samples of the entire album Songs on this album are: 1. I Wish 2. Circus 3. Bullseye 4. Just Because 5. Won't Be Sorry 6. Long Hard Look 7. Make Sweet Love 8. Paris 9. No One Awake 10. Guess What Happens  |
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Reviews: If you ever got your groove on listening to Huffamoose, there’s a very good chance you’ll dig guitarist Kevin Hanson’s BullsEye. His trio is the same band minus frontman Craig Elkins, with Hanson taking over the songwriting and lead vocals. BullsEye sounds a lot like Huffamoose, except that it covers a much broader range. It’s a straight-ahead rock record, but infused with every conceivable influence: American songbook, disco grooves, brooding Leonard Cohen lamentations, bubblegum pop, Tex-Mex blues. Sometimes it sounds as if a dozen different musical ideas came pouring out all at once, but it’s hard to fault a guy for trying new things. One track features a theremin and glides from something akin to Ellington-Strayhorn’s "Lush Life" into Lennon-McCartney’s "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" It all holds together on the basis of Hanson’s crafty storytelling and the chops of bassist Jim Stager, drummer Erik Johnson and the occasional guest soloist. Philadelphia CityPaper BullsEye showcases the tasteful versatility in Hanson's guitar playing and the wiry idiosyncrasies of his songwriting. It's loose and, well, fairly drunken-sounding for the most part, like the inner-music school egghead that serves as Hanson's muse has graduated from a weekly puff or two of grass to a quart of Rebel Yell per day. How else would you explain the Hot Tuna-meets-Adrian Belew campfire singalong "I Wish," or the sophisticated chord changes that give a very unorthodox bent to the rockabilly rap of "Make Sweet Love"? Okay, so maybe that music-school egghead still has Hanson's ear just a little bit (the roller-disco title track has some guitar filigree straight off a Steve Lukather instructional video), but at least he's wise enough not to give the name of the local bar that's become "a place to buy cocaine" lest any of the unsavory characters he mentions in "Guess What Happens" come sniffing around for a piece of the publishing. Grape Street fixtures Jim Boggia and Ben Arnold open this record release show, and with the way these Manayunk guys share band members (Johnson was playing drums for both, at last count), expect quick changeovers. Philadelphia Weekly "Just Because," one of 10 tart originals from former Huffamoose guitarist Kevin Hanson, looks inside the mind of an ex-lover pushed to the brink of derangement. "Just because you think I'm crazy don't mean it's true" goes the first line, sung over a hymnlike, medium-tempo rock backbeat. But by the time Hanson reaches the chorus, his sardonic delivery - which resembles the blunt, unpretentious singing of Steely Dan guitarist Walter Becker - takes on a sinister edge: "Just because you're leaving me doesn't mean we're through." The lyrics of "BullsEye, which range from acidic to absurd, work because they're surrounded by so much smart music: Each track turns on unusual chord sequences and dense guitar textures. And though Hanson's a persuasive soloist, his principal gift is for connecting various guitar styles into a coherent accompaniment. After describing love as a "Circus," he blends rock rhythm riffs and sloping slide-guitar blues into a crowded menagerie; he anchors the loping "I Wish" with an impeccably timed Brazilian rhythm. Tom Moon - Philadelphia Inquirer |