Review: Kimerley Rew/Katrina & The Waves re-releases

Kimberly Rew/Katrina & The Waves - The Bible Of Bop/Shock Horror!/ Katrina And The Waves/KATW II
2010, Tummy Touch Music Group

The name Kimberley Rew probably won't mean a lot to most readers at first; it's not necessarily a name you'd catch in the popular press even at the height of his popularity. Kimberley Rew has written songs for The Bangles and Celine Dion, but a majority of his work was recorded by his own bands, Katrina And The Waves/The Waves. Rew started as part of the burnishing Cambridge, England scene in the 1970's. Rew was a member of The Soft Boys with Robyn Hitchcock, releasing two albums with the band before they split in 1981. The same year, Rew released his first album The Bible Of Bop. The Bible Of Bop was recorded in four different sessions with The dB's, The Soft Boys (with Robyn Hitchcock on guitar) and The Waves (with Katrina Leskanich and Vince De La Cruz). The album was followed by The Waves' Shock Horror! in 1982, and by Katrina And The Waves and Katrina And The Waves II in 1983 and 1984 respectively. The UK band couldn't find a label to release them until Canada's Attic Records (who had released albums from The Soft Boys) picked them up in 1983. It wasn't under a year or so later when The Bangles had a hit with a cover of Going Down To Liverpool that the majors took notice. Walking On Sunshine ended up becoming a big pop hit worldwide in another example of a band toiling for years to become an overnight success. This spring, Tummy Touch Music Group will release all four albums in special limited edtions, each with bonus tracks.

Rew's first album, The Bible Of Bop is an interesting mix of New Wave, Punk, and Beatles-influenced Pop music. Rew shows flashes of the songwriting talent he grew into, including the Knack-like My Baby Does Her Hairdo Long, Animal Song, The Nightmare and the Beatles-inspired Fishing. Rew covers all of the ground in between on an album with real spark but a lack of cohesion. The Bible Of Bop is like listening to a kid with a world of talent and raw skill who hasn't quite honed it yet.

The Waves' Shock Horror opens with the song that ended up putting Kimberly Rew and Katrina & The Waves in the spotlight, Going Down To Liverpool. It wasn't until the Bangles released it two years later that the song got noticed, but it led to the "discovery" of Katrina And The Waves. The version offered up here tighter than the Bangles' version and very much worth hearing. Rew's songwriting begins to eschew his Punk/New Wave roots on Shock Horror, moving more toward 1960's Rock and even R&B. I Caught The Milktrain, Strolling On Air, You Can't Stand Next To Judie and Saturday Week are highlights. Shock Horror includes as a bonus 4 previously unreleased tracks from 1976 recording sessions that show Rew's earliest development as a songwriter.

Katrina & The Waves (I) and Katrina & The Waves II will generally more familiar to fans of 1980's Pop. The former includes the original version of Walking On Sunshine, which varies a little from the version that ruled the airwaves in the mid-1980's, but its close enough. Each disc includes bonus unreleased or alternate versions of tracks, giving fans a chance to see behind the curtain of Rew's creativity.

As someone who grew up glued to the radio in the early-to-mid 1980's, I remember bopping along to several Katrina & The Waves songs. Rew's songwriting is at its most polished for the two most Katrina & The Waves albums (not to mention that Katrina Leskanich was a 1980's dream girl as a front woman). The four re-releases trace the development of Rew as a songwriter, from uneven but talented scribe in the 1970's to polished songwriter by the mid-1980's. It's about time these albums saw the light of day again.

Ratings:

The Bible Of Bop 3 Stars (Out of 5)
Shock Horror! 2.5 Stars (Out of 5)
Katrina & The Waves 4 Stars (Out of 5)
Katrina & The Waves II 3 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Kimberley Rew at http://www.kimberleyrew.com/ or www.myspace.com/kimberleyrew. The Kimberley Rew re-releases will be available in April of 2010 through Tummy Touch Music Group. Keep checking their website as well as Rew’s for details.

Review: Tad Dreis - The Reluctant Hook (and the day that it caught)

Tad Dreis - The Reluctant Hook (and the day that it caught)
2009, Tad Dreis

Tad Dreis comes from vibrant Chapel Hill, North Carolina music scene that helped launch bands such as Hootie & The Blowfish and Edwin McCain to national prominence. Writing and performing quirky Folk/Pop tunes can be a tricky game, but Dreis has a real knack for finding the perfect hook or turn of phrase. Comparisons to Robyn Hitchcock and Loudon Wainwright III as they might have sounded jamming with the Beatles are apropos. Dreis releases his third album, The Reluctant Hook (and the day that caught it) drops on September 11, 2009. With Dreis' wide touring and acclamations in the past few years (including a 2006 nomination from APCA as Best Solo Artist), The Reluctant Hook might just be the album that breaks things wide open for him.

Dreis is a singer-songwriter with a focus on traditional style story songs that occasionally stray into uncharted territory. A prime example is the opening track, The Makeup Company; a tune about an experience with a call center with supernatural powers and a penchant for showing off. It's an amusing tale that seems almost plausible based on past experience. Button For You is pure Americana, stylistically similar to Blue Rodeo or Wilco. It's a song about being so caught up in the day-to-day that you can't enjoy the things that really matter. This is primo songwriting. My Backstory is all about the perils of becoming well-known, particularly all of the "truths" that become public knowledge without ever being checked for accuracy. The arrangement and even Dreis' voice call to mind fleetingly Canadian quartet Moxy Fruvous.

Blues For Werner is a lovely tune about the more melancholy aspects of being a truck driver. It's a gentle arrangement full of affection that stands out because of its pure honesty. Very often in life our basic comforts revolve around the most simple of material items, be it a pair of comfy jeans, or a blanket (ala Linus from Peanuts). The Rug That Swore is the story of a boy and his carpet. Yes, it's a bit odd but so sweetly done you'll find yourself getting into it. It's a great tune. Three Forms Of Media explores all the methods for hooking up in a modern age (phone, eMail and hand-written notes), and how those methods can be used to push things awry when someone isn't playing fair. It's a humorous tune with a sudden twist at the close. Advice For Ladies highlights the advantages of a woman having a "humorous gay friend". It's an amusing tune with more than a little truth to it. Dreis closes out with I'll Be There and Pear Blossoms, both decent tunes but perhaps lacking a bit of the mischievous glint that pervades the rest of the album.

Tad Dreis is a stellar singer-songwriter who happens to have a mildly twisted sense of humor. His approach is a classic one, able to appeal to a broad spectrum of fans. Intelligent lyrics with wicked turns and strong melodies make The Reluctant Hook (and the day that it caught) an outstanding listen, even if it things tail off a bit at the end.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Tad Dreis at http://www.taddreis.com/ or www.myspace.com/taddreis. You can purchase The Reluctant Hook (and the day that it caught) as either a CD or download through CDBaby.com.