SCALA Steps CD Review
The yellow many-pointed star on the green back cover of this CD says "With 14 award winning songs (and one expletive-twice)." Sadly the expletive belongs to the song Solar Dice by one of my favourite bands to have played at SCALA's venue, The Milk. I say sadly, because, owing to the expletive, I haven't been able to play this fine song at all on SCALA's radio program. So listen to it on SCALA Steps and enjoy.
The front cover of SCALA Steps has a photo of a flight of rough-hewn rock steps that look like they are in a National Park somewhere. The CD title comes from both the word mentioned in Serge Mancuso's song Paris, New York (more of which later) and the Peter Beeby and Ian Coulls' song, Giant Steps). The short set of lyrics for the latter song was written by Ian Coulls and they remind me of Donovan in his Hurdy-gurdy Man and Atlantis phase. An example... "On the endless beach of time/ my life is a grain of sand." The rest of the song is an excellent keyboard arrangement written and played by Peter Beeby, who also sings the vocal as well. Talking of keyboards, two female performers have classy piano backings on this CD. They are Mary Laslett who plays electric piano herself on Your Side and Tina Namow with her song Stay Here Tonight. Ian Farr plays piano on Tina's song. We have heard of Ian Farr before on SCALA's first compilation CD SCALA Big And Strong, where he accompanied Lisa Hughes on the Ruth Goble song On Garie Beach. Tina's vocals show both strength and light and shade, as does the backing, on Stay Here Tonight. Mary Laslett's song, Your Side, seems to have been picked up by some other Community radio stations besides Coast FM, where SCALA has had its radio program till now. The song deserves the attention it is receiving. The backings on SCALA Steps vary from simple guitar or piano to quite full programmed arrangements. There are two songs on the CD which I think can only be effectively done with solo guitar backing. They are John Cox's Insane Woman With Cats, and SCALA president Robert Childs' song My First Wife, Your Father And You And Me. I have heard John Cox do Cats just accompanying himself on guitar, (at the FOOM final at which he was a co-winner), and I have heard him do it with his band Nervous Lionel. I prefer the solo version - the song just seems more suited to it. And I can say that the 'live solo feel' needed for this song has been captured in this recording on SCALA Steps. Robert Childs' song is ideally suited to a simple chorded backing on guitar. In the song, a long-term new relationship evolves over some years from the initial living-room meeting described in the title. As time goes along other relationships fall away. A fine song, even if it does have one of the longest titles ever on a SCALA compilation CD. To go to the other extreme of full programmed backings, I'll look at Avra Velis' Crazy Over You, and Serge Mancuso's Paris, New York. Avra's song co-won the Demotape section of FOOM in 1998 and Serge's song was Highly Commended in the FOOM Mastertape Section in 1999. We have heard Avra Velis before, on SCALA's 4th Compilation CD SCALA Play Those Songs, where she sang the very 'boppy' Now About You. Here on Crazy over You, she is in more of a 'ballad' mode. Rob Mills' very competent programmed backing, (plus guitar from Harry Beach, with whom Avra shares arrangement credits), beautifully complements Avra's good voice and very clear diction. Serge Mancuso's vocals on Paris, New York were once described by one of SCALA's radio presenters as being 'Lou Reed-esque', and I guess there may be a bit of Lou Reed influence on Serge's phrasing in this song. But the vocals are set against such a distinctive programmed backing it is a unique song in its own right. I don't regard it as 'derivative' at all. Paris, New York opens with percussion, then a very strong and flowing bass riff comes in. Then what I can only call " a synth. guitar chord sequence", comes in, and then the vocals. Myles Wakeham did the imaginative programming, plus production and engineering of this track. It always helps to begin a CD with some strong, accessible songs. SCALA Steps does just that. The first four tracks would be sure to entice the new listener into listening to the remainder of the CD. Track 1 is from NSW member Les Martin. His song is Are You Gonna Let Me Love You? It opens with some good sequencing by Glen McCaffery, then in comes Les's smooth vocal delivery. The song has a strong chorus (always a good quality for an opening song). The sequencing during the song matches Les Martin's vocal qualities to a very fine degree. Everywhere is the first of two tracks written by Paul Kneipp (this one is co-written with Rex Goh). It is sung by Tanis and Mandi and is a good example of modern female duo vocals with its insistent chorus - very listenable material indeed. Paul and Rex are in the band that backs the girls on this song. Track 4, Rich Man, was wholly written by Paul Kneipp. He and Rex Goh are also in the band that backs the Robertson Brothers on this song. There are three brothers, (Geoff, Stuart and Ben) and they provide a very good example of a young male vocal group at work. Between the two Paul Kneipp written songs comes That Girl (The Other One) by Third Drawer. This is yet another collaboration by Peter Beeby who co-wrote this song with Catherine Blanch. His keyboards on this song sound almost like electric organ chords but are very distinctive. One of Adelaide's best vocalists, James Burchell, formerly of Cosmic Desert, sings about a man in a restaurant who may have been 'stood up' by a lady friend. Catherine Blanch is listed as 'vocals, but not on this version'. I have heard her sing the song in concert and in her hands it becomes a song about an unreliable woman friend not turning up for a dinner appointment, leaving the singer waiting in the restaurant. Good non-gender-specific stuff. I feel a twinge of sadness reviewing Murray Wever's song Something More To Find. for Murray is no longer with us. He was killed in a car accident in his home state of NSW in 1994 just after he had completed a demotape, which included this song. I like to think of many people just playing the CD without reading all the small details in the booklet. In that way he and his song are as alive as every other artist and track on the CD. Listening to the quality of this track makes me wonder what else he might have written had he lived. Murray has been put on a CD of quality that will be on the market for a long time. What more could we do? Lama Kiss, written by Catherine Walsh and Fiona Stewart and performed by Fiona was co-winner of the 1999 FOOM Demotape Section. It was recorded in Fiona's home studio in Sainte Soulle, France. Initially, I, and probably many others, thought of the South American pack animal when we read the title for the first time. On listening, however, we'd all soon realise that that kind of "Llama" has a double 'L'. This one has a single 'L' so means the Tibetan Buddhist monk or priest, as in the Dalai Lama. Initially, I thought that was a kind if 'in' joke, and it wore off quite soon. However, with further listening, I came to appreciate both the lovely crisp rhythm guitar backing and the fact that Fiona is having real fun singing the song, particularly with how she handles the amusing rhyming. I won't spell the rhyming out for you because it needs to be heard to be appreciated. "Grew on me over time", is about all I can add. Next a look at two songs by bands. The first is Everyday, by Cheeseworld. This is more very good 'non-gender-specific' material written by rhythm guitarist in the band, Peter Wilson, and sung by Rebecca Trowbridge. (The lyric text is liberally scattered with S/he's.) There is some nice violin playing too, providing good accompaniment to Rebecca's voice. It's pleasing to hear a song set in waltz rhythm, as well. Little Red Rocket is played by an un-named band of musicians, as Frank Dog Productions who wrote the song, are a 3 piece team of songwriters. They say in the booklet, "Musicians associated with F.D.P. do the music and vocals on this track." All 3 songwriters are police officers in their daily work and say of this composition, "a song reflective of the quiet desperation within the prostitution industry." It rocks along really well. I Miss You, by Dan and Stacey is another good example of a non-gender-specific song. As with Cheeseworld's Everyday, a man wrote the song and it is sung on this CD by a woman. In this case, however, He/she or S/he is not necessary in the lyric text in the booklet, as the song is written in first person. Dan Jackiw is the writer and guitarist whilst Stacey Errington is the vocalist. The track opens with guitar picking by Dan, then it breaks into chords for the remainder of the song. This track is an excellent example of a very competent accompanist at work, for everything Dan does on guitar here enhances Stacey's fine vocals. The song has had substantial airplay on SCALA's radio program since this CD was launched. A glance at the information booklet reveals that Corey Stewart plays vocal, guitar, bass, keyboard and percussion on his song Nothing Stands In Your Way. (SCALA's example of what a "One man band" can do when he's let loose in a recording studio.). This is a pleasant ballad-type song sung in Corey's very wide vocal range. He sings quite different material lately as he is now a writer, bass player and singer in "Funk Star", one of Adelaide's leading funk bands. So listen to this track and catch him in a former "phase" of songwriting. Helen R's. song, Thought I'd Never Crossed Your Mind was runner-up at the 1999 Songwriters' Event at the Victor Harbor Folk Festival. Helen has performed at Folk Festivals interstate as well as here, and has been on radio and TV in her home town of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Thought I'd Never Crossed Your Mind is well worth listening to, not only for Helen's distinctive vocal style, but more particularly because it is the only example on the CD of someone accompanying themselves on guitar in a 'folk pick' style. To finish this review, I'll have a look at Adrian Miller and Malcolm McCallum's song Let's Be Brilliant. This song started life just as a set of lyrics and as such won the Lyric Section of the 1999 Festival of Original Music. Now set to music by Malcolm, and recorded on SCALA Steps sung by Adrian, it is accompanied by a band in which they both play. The theme of the song seems to me to be, "If we're going to do anything at all, Let's Be Brilliant." A nice sentiment on which to end this review.
Adapted from SCALA News 2001
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