Mix: Volume 3 - the specifics

Track 1 - Holiday
This feels like the opening track of an album to me, a good thing, since that's how it's being used. It's got some pretty good lyrics, and a good little tune. Nothing mind blowing, but plenty pleasant. Definitely has that college band feel to it, as much as anything due to the lyrics.

Track 2 - The Buckeye Tree
One of my favorites on this collection. Simple, elegant and endlessly enjoyable. Takes advantage of the vast rhyming potential of 'ee' sounds, and does it without being too annoying. Like the harmonica in this song - more subtle than your typical use, fitting nicely into the feel of this song.

Track 3 - Man the Swirl of Color
Another of my favorites from this collection, although I have some problems with the chorus. I love a couple lines from this song - 'wash your face in the basin I made for you, it's cooked clay, modeled on a wheel' and 'move your eyes to the plate before you, I drew a lake, it's underneath your steak' are delivered with that odd, voice hitting the bottom of his register way, and are so quirky as to be great. This guy needs to stop making pottery for this woman - it's killing him. The chorus has some odd musical transitions that don't quite work for my ears, mostly where the 'lenses of lonely girl part' is. Something seems off to me though I don;t think I have the musical knowledge to define it.

Track 4 - The One the Got Away
A good honky tonk. Not necessarily my favorite genre, but this one is done pretty well. Spare drumming and the steel guitar, along with the little harmonies - all good. It reminds of Rocky Raccoon (lyrically only) and that too is a good thing.

Track 5 - The One You're Closest To
A good song that I can't quite get into. There's nothing wrong with it, and nothing I can point to, maybe it's just my current frame of mind, but this song just hasn't clicked with me. It's well written, with good instrumentation, etc, just not floating my boat.

Track 6 - City Girl
Reminded me so strongly of two artists that I know (Erin Mckeown and Gem) that I checked to see if there was any connection, which there was not. I like this song, and it was a good bit of relief to have a more prominent female voice in this collection. I like the simplicity of the vocals and the piano and the two women's voices and singing style are very pleasant to my ear.

Track 7 - Mike's Country Song
Other than Griddle Cake Joey (more later) this is probably my least favorite of the collection, and almost entirely because it seems like the ungerminated seed of an idea. They've got a pleasant little banjo ditty and a verse, but that's it. This is something that I expect to be track 34 after 16 tracks of 3 second silences. It's a novelty, and while not unpleasant, does nothing for me.

Track 8 - Neutral Angel of Fargo
Like The One You're Closest Too, this is a well written, well performed song that jsut doesn't push any of my buttons. I appreciate it, but little more.

Track 9 - Little Sunrises
This singer reminds me a bit of how Mighty Tom and Dan's bastard child would sing, particularly right at the beginning of each verse. I pray to whatever that the singer doesn't look like what that union would bring forth. I hear little bits of each of them in there. Again, I can't quite develop any sort of affinity for this song. It's could be a good song, since I can't find anything about it that bugs me, but it leaves me unphased.

Track 10 - 10,000 Lakes
Certainly a title quite apt for this Minnesota Connections collection. A song I like quite a bit, although the lyrics really throw me. 'I came for the taper, I came for the tapeworm'? I hope he did indeed get better, but I'm not sure what 'taper' is. I know what tapeworm is, and it's not good. The echoey piano is a very cool effect on this song, and the whole things really conveys a dark sense of this trip to Minnesota, which seems to be the point. In the top 3 of my favorites on this collection.

Track 11 - Griddlecake Joey (aka Juicy Shrimp Cory)
This song I could do without. It shows a fine country sense, but it too seems like a total novelty. Perhaps I'm totally missing the point of Accident Clearinghouse, but if an album from them is a collection of experiments like this and Mike's Country Song, I'll pass.

Parting thoughts in another post....