[FM] FAME Review: Chuck Brodsky's "Color Came One Day" written by David Schultz

[David N. Pyles]

 Color Came One Day
Chuck Brodsky (http://www.chuckbrodsky.com)

ChuckBrodsky.com Records (CB 030)

Waterbug Redords
PO Box 12736, Portland, OR 97212
PHONE/FAX 800 466 0234 / 503-233-7555
http://www.waterbug.com/

A review written for the Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange By David Schultz
(schultz at alum.mit.edu)

Chuck Brodsky has always been one of my favorite singer-songwriters. His
songs provide a message, without being preachy; they tell good stories
without being boring. His albums are consistent endeavors---there are no
filler songs included. On his latest album, "Color Came One Day", he
hires a new producer J.P. Cormier, who also serves as his new
multi-instrumentalist backing band. Despite the potential this change
could have on Brodsky's sound, I am pleased to report that, in general,
the same musical and lyrical formula that has engaged me in the past is
still working.

One of Brodsky's talents has been to tell a controversial story without
taking sides. A good example is "The Come Heres & The Been Heres," which
explores the different lifestyles of the residents of a once rural town
now faced with the influx of suburbanites. Brodsky just lays the canvas
and paints vignettes of situations that show the growing conflict.
Although he pokes fun at both groups, he doesn't resolve those tensions
in the song---the listener is left to consider the complexities of the
situation themselves. On "Color Came One Day", however, Brodsky becomes
much more partisan.

Like "The Come Heres & The Been Heres," Brodsky explores the issues of
the growing suburbs in two new songs: "Trees Falling" and "Forest Hills
Sub." Unlike "The Come Heres & The Been Heres," however, it is no mystery
which side Brodsky is on. In "Trees Falling," Brodsky tells the story of
development out of control:

See where they're putting in a Wal-Mart
See how they level the field
The community banded against it
But there was a backroom deal
Tree one day begin falling
Bulldozers tear up the grass
Just down the road from the superstore
Shopkeepers are boarding up glass.

"Dangerous Times" is the strongest and most urgent track on the album.
Sending shivers up your spine, with the imperative in his guitar
strumming, Brodsky lays waste to the current administration's war on
terror in 4 minutes and 45 seconds. This song also appears on "Anti-Theft
Device" (http://www.waterbug.com/antitheft.html), Waterbug Records'
politically oriented CD to get out the folkie vote this November.

There's terror in our midst
All over the TV
It's what behind the words
That scares the daylights out of me
The twisting of the facts
The stretching of the truth
The terrorists among us
They manipulate the news
So let us all agree
Let us not dissent
Let us not ask questions such as
Where our freedoms went.

Other songs are much more personal. "G-ddamned Blessed Road" is about
travels and deciding life's path, possibly based on Brodsky's life. The
closing track is "Al's Ashes & Me," Brodsky's song about his travels with
folksinger Al Grierson's ashes.

One of Brodsky's greatest strengths is his ability to tell a detailed
story in as few words as possible. Of the 12 songs on this album, four of
them are longer than 6 minutes. Coincidently, they are also my least
favorite songs. Make no mistake, however---I'll take a 7-minute Chuck
Brodsky song to nearly anything in the Top 40 these days. Brodsky is
truly a national treasure and deserves a greater following. Chuck Brodsky
fans will find "Color Came One Day" to be a respectable follow-up on his
previous work.

Track Listing:

The 9:30 Pint
The Ballad of Stan Rogers & Leo Kennedy
Seven Miles Upwind
G-ddamned Blessed Road
Miracle in the Hills
Trees Falling
Claire & Johnny
The Room Over the Bar
Forest Hills Sub
The Goat Man
Dangerous Times
Ashes & Me

Edited by: David N. Pyles (dnpyles at acousticmusic.com)

Copyright 2004, Peterborough Folk Music Society and David Schultz. This
review may be reprinted with prior permission and attribution.

=====================
David N. Pyles
acousticmusic.com
82 Leadmine Road
Nelson NH 03457 USA
http://www.acousticmusic.com/frames
http://www.acousticmusic.com/frames/fame.htm
=====================
"Bush admitted that his pre-war intelligence wasn't what it should have
been. But we knew that when we elected him!"-- Jay Leno

Regime change begins at home.
 War is a cowards escape from the problems of peace. - Thomas Mann

"fas-cism (fash'iz'em) n. A system of government that exercises a
dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state
and business leadership, together with belligerent
nationalism."
-- The American Heritage Dictionary