SCALA Living In The Mainstream CD Review
Another year, another SCALA CD. And the good news is, the quality just keeps getting better. This year we have SCALA Living In The Mainstream showcasing some of the finest new music from SCALA members including many of the winners of SCALA's FOOM competition from 2002 and 2003.
Mainstream opens with the uptempo Why? (Do You Mystify?) by Phil Salonikas, featuring vocals by Ursula Reszynski, and experienced musos Nick Panasakis on guitar and Paul White on keyboards. A good choice as opener, with a nice funky little groove that grabs the attention immediately and doesn't let go. FOOM Demo section co-winner 2002. Oh, and the lyric contains the line 'living in the mainstream', so clue hunters can stop searching now. The momentum is kept up with Sydney artist Robert Revelo performing Closer, one of the winning songs from the Master Open section of FOOM 2002. Robert's chunky guitar playing and strong vocal performance give this track (and the CD) a harder edge which should satisfy the rock fans. A change of pace, as track 3 is the showstopping Now An Angel (Jarrad's Song) by Tallie Brown. Everyone who was at the Live final in 2002 will, like myself, remember an extraordinary performance, and this has been faithfully reproduced in the studio by Quentin Eyers with Tallie on piano and vocals. Next is 2002 Demo section co-winner Sweet Kiss by boy duo Boy Harum. This is a power pop ballad with a nice piano riff slightly reminiscent of Lennon's Imagine, but with a lyric much less likely to be banned in America. Seems to be about something to do with unrequited love, but I could be wrong about this. Nattasha Crestani's joint 2002 Master Open section winner Supergirl follows, tossing in some pedal steel & fiddle to add a bit of country flavour, but with tempo changes, guitar solo and lyrics about taking risks and exploring the unknown, this is country music with something new to say. Mainstream even features two instrumentals - by the same artist! Mark Taylor won back to back in the FOOM Master Instrumental section in 2002 and 2003, so he must be doing something right. The first of these tracks, Dirt, follows next, with Neverlearn placed towards the end of the CD. A problem I often have with instrumentals is that they can sound like backing tracks in search of a vocal. Not so with these two tracks. Here the focus is Mark's (predominantly slide) guitar playing, and the music conjures mental images that don't need lyrics to describe. Mark also backs himself with bass and percussion. Crank up the volume for these two. Another change in direction, as Louise Perryman's Only Blue softens the mood, with a bluesy ballad about, erm, feeling blue. Oozing class from first note to last, it's no surprise that this track won the Master Open section in 2003. The mood continues with a 'transcendental' version of I Won't Do That (The Wanting Has Gone) by Josephine Schmidt, which in another life was successful in the Live section of FOOM 2002. But Josephine has taken it back to the studio and come out with six and a half minutes of chill-out bliss. By this stage I'm feeling that Mainstream is a CD I could listen to again and again. Consummate live performer Avra Velis chose to record her FOOM 2002 Live success Being Elvis in front of a live studio audience. So you get the best of both worlds - a cleanly recorded 'in-studio' sound for the backing provided by a tasty bunch of players, and a warts'n'all live vocal which captures the essence of Velis/Elvis the performer in full flight. Brett Eeles re-establishes the CD's rock cred with a straightahead slice of guitar/bass/drums with Colourbond Kingdom, which was successful in the 2002 Demo section. This recording also features vocals by Karlee Davis. (Curious fact: although the writing is evenly split, 11 tracks on Mainstream feature female vocals while 5 have male vocals). Popular duo Krusader Rabbit were another highlight of the 2002 FOOM Live section, and it was always going to be interesting to see if they could capture Veronica's Venom on disc. Sensibly they have kept it pretty much as they performed it and the spirit (and spite!) of Veronica lives on. In a welcome move Mainstream then features a bunch of live songs recorded at SCALA's Saturday night live venue. Corey Stewart's Mountain Top, Melinda Dowd's Wounds of Love, Fred Chiapolino's You Gotta Get Around (with backing vocalist extraordinaire Catherine Blanch) and Avra Velis' Baby Kiss Me Now are all outstanding examples of the music you are likely to hear if you venture out to the Joiner's Arms of a Saturday night. Hopefully there will be enough interest for this concept to develop into a full length CD of highlights from SCALA's live venue. Mainstream closes with two posthumous releases, to remind us of some of the great songwriters we have lost along the way. Firstly, Into Your Mind, by SCALA member and FOOM judge Naomi Shaw, who passed away in 1999. Featuring Naomi on vocals and piano, this self-produced and engineered track has been mixed a treat and brought to the table by Quentin Eyers. Finally, Wave Goodbye Children, by Mr CJ (Chris Uren), who was killed in a helicopter accident in 2002, is another example of Chris's intelligent and highly original work, revealing that we have missed out on so much great material because of his demise. Overall I'd have to say that SCALA Living In The Mainstream is a very worthy addition to SCALA's evolving history and I would urge all SCALA members and everyone else to get hold of a copy. We need original music to live on.
Adapted from SCALA News # 98 April/May/June 2004
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