Review: Alan Cohen Experience - Eat The Peace

Alan Cohen Experience - Eat The Peace
2009, FanJam Records

Alan Cohen is back with his Orchestra of Personality with a six-song EP, Eat The Peace, due out on November 3, 2009. Cohen is something of a visionary, using an ever evolving ensemble to create and recreate music in new and fascinating ways. Eat The Peace is the follow-up to 2008's Alan Cohen Experience EP; both of which are produced by Brooklyn's own Roger Greenwalt (The Pierces, Ben Kweller, Nils Lofgren). The EP is a continuing document of Cohen's prodigious songwriting and arrangement skills, and serves as an appetizer to Cohen's next full-length project, a concept album based on Stephen Hawking's A Brief History Of Time.

Eat The Peace opens with Rock Biter, a wonderfully quirky bit of Euro-Pop with Blues in its lineage. It’s a wonderfully tuneful song that isn’t an ode to the character from Never Ending Story, but some equally fanciful character from Cohen’s mind. If Rock Biter is odd or unusual, then Train God descends into utter madness in a once again strong melodic tune that makes about as much sense as a They Might Be Giants Dial-A-Song snippet. Alan Cohen Experience gets into a Van Morrison-meets-The Beautiful South vibe on Ranger Stranger, a highly catchy ditty about a train robber who is something of an urban legend (in Cohen’s song, at least). It’s a very enjoyable tune that will get stuck in your noggin. Jester sticks to the quasi-Lo-Fi aesthetic that pervades Eat The Peace; the comparisons to early They Might Be Giants are apropos, no where more so than on Jester where Cohen sounds like a slightly less nasal John Linnell. Peace is cute but nondescript. Eat The Peace closes out with Truck Driver, the ode to this profession that the world has been waiting for. It’s a quirky tune that straddles the line between novelty tune and children’s song while actually taking a poignant look at what might make a truck driver tick.

Eat The Piece is a pleasurable, if odd, musical ride. Alan Cohen is a good enough writer to make outright novelty pieces seem like quirky but serious compositions. I think Alan Cohen Experience is probably a bit of an acquired taste, but easily so. The infectious melodies; minimalist arrangements and off-the-wall subjects will intrigue and fascinate listeners.

Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Alan Cohen Experience at http://www.alancohenexperience.com/. Eat The Peace will be released November 3, 2009. Expect the album to be available at Cohen’s website and various other online outlets.

Devo, They Might Be Giants, John Linnell, Ben Kweller, The Pierces, Nils Lofgren, Stephen Hawking

Review: Alan Cohen Experience - Alan Cohen Experience

Alan Cohen Experience – Alan Cohen Experience
2008, Alan Cohen Experience

Alan Cohen is a concept guy. The Boston-based singer/songwriter/bandleader turns out new music like breathing. Cohen and his Orchestra of Personality comprise The Alan Cohen Experience, name coined by a drummer Cohen once knew. The name is apt, Cohen is a musical experience. His latest album, a 6-track EP entitled, aptly, Alan Cohen Experience, was released in November of 2008. Produced by Roger Greenwalt (The Pierces, Ben Kweller, Nils Lofgren), Cohen comes out of the deeply conceptual into the wonderfully strange.

Alan Cohen Experience opens with Elephant, a bizarre ditty that sounds like something Saturday Night Live's Dieter might have played on his fictional television show Sprockets; "All's quiet on the waterfront, it's just me and my ellee-phant." The music is minimalist Euro new wave circa 1985, with riffing guitar and a hip 1985 dance beat. Up Next is Roy's Rock, a classic rock mover with funk in its ancestry. Lyrically the song is fluff, but it's a fun listen that will be sure to get your feet moving. Communist Park reminds me of what might have happened if the early incarnation of They Might Be Giants wrote lyrics for and sang with Ben Folds. The tune is catchy; the arrangement based on pop piano and horns, the lyrical content is strange.

Saturday Morning is a dreamy musical landscape that's more a descriptive musical image than a story or idea. It's sweet in its own way with a lovely melody and perfect harmonies. Bonita is a "love song for no one"; it's a bit cliché and silly but quite enjoyable. The song is accompanied by gorgeous orchestration and shows the depth of songwriting talent chief songwriter Cohen possesses. Space Watch takes some lyrical license in a song that is both odd and richly rewarding.

The more I listen to Alan Cohen Experience the more they remind me of another band known for richly psychedelic songs. Canada's Rheostatics made a long career out of the same sort of material for nearly twenty years, although they had a slightly harder edge at times. Fans of The Rheostatics of Kevin Hearn (Barenaked Ladies) will get the Alan Cohen Experience. Musically the band/orchestra is top notch. The songwriting is clean, crisp and rich in orchestration and musical development. Lyrically they'll leave some folks behind, but not too many. Alan Cohen Experience is a worthwhile listen; one of those you might not listen to regularly over the long haul, but will call to you from time to time to pull it out and give it another spin.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about the Alan Cohen Experience at www.myspace.com/alancohenexperience or http://www.alancohenexperience.com/, where you can purchase a copy of Alan Cohen Experience.

Review: Wensday - Torch Rock

Wensday - Torch Rock
2008, Desert Dreams Records

Wensday was quietly pursuing her music as a jazz vocalist in her native Providence, Rhode Island. Along with being the director of a children’s theater, Wensday found time and energy to front several projects in a short period of time. After her discovery by none other than Alice Cooper, Alice embarked on a whirlwind of musical self-discovery. Working with the likes of Dick Wagner (Alice Cooper, Lou Reed, KISS, Air Supply, Aerosmith); Fred Mandel (Elton John, Queen, Cooper); Nils Lofgren (Springsteen) and Bobby Flores, Wensday was able to craft an album that runs the gamut from jazz to rock with all stops in between. Torch Rock defies classification while welcoming praise.

Wensday runs the stylistic gamut on Torch Rock, with elements of Country, Jazz, Blues and Rock N Roll mashed up into a silky mix that perfectly complements her sultry, soulful voice. Torch Rock opens with Arizona Man, an utterly forthright and brazen letdown with country trappings and gorgeous, classic-rock style harmonies. After You follows up as a gorgeous piano-based ballad. Wensday's voice is charmed and full of delicious color in this regretful goodbye song. The Rise And Fall Of Love lifts from the ashes like a 1980's arena rock ballad, full of guitar and synth. The almost classical form of song construction here is intriguing, and Wensday absolutely soars on the chorus.

Heartbreak is a soulful torch song that will stick in your head for days afterward. Only Women Bleed is a classic country take on the Alice Cooper classic. This may be song with the greatest commercial potential on Torch Rock; a highly licensable tune that should be destined for placement in at least one chick-flick. Decorations leans a little bit into classic R&B styles and is perhaps the best pure pop song on Torch Rock. What sounds like a series of double entendres turns out to be a song about tattoos. The song is very well written and is bound to grab your attention.

Be sure to give a listen or six to Seventh Level, a gorgeously orchestrated opening turns into a classic soul rocker that draws lines of comparison between Love and Hell. Seventh Level is highly theatric and could easily be a key song in a musical. It's an amazing composition and by far the best overall performance on Torch Rock. Other highlights include Bulldog Blues, Predatory Gentlemen, My Fantasy Life and Pirate Love.

Wensday is unique. She has the charm of a country girl, the craven sensuality of a torch singer, and the theatric nature of a thespian. Add all of this to great material and an amazing voice and you have the complete package that is Wensday. Torch Rock may suffer a bit on the commercial side as it really does run all over the musical map, and some music consumers just don't have the musical vision to encompass it all. But from a music perspective it's absolutely sublime. Wensday comes out of left field with an instant classic.

Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Wensday at http://www.wensdaymusic.com/. You can purchase a copy of Torch Rock at Amazon.com.