Regular Columnists

Artist: Band: Crying Out Loud
Genre: Rock
CD Review:
'Take These Chains' builds for several minutes before even a tambourine knocks on the door. I've not heard a drumless rock song in quite a while. You find yourself listening to the voice and concentrating on the guitar more. Frankly, it's a splash with cold water in the face. It feels good.

'Blue Goodbye' is a nice leftover from the 60s, you'd expect this to be a cover of a Stones song, wouldn't you? Well, Hudson sings and strums the guitar and there's something quite calming about this one. Nearly 5 minutes, gone before you know it. I wish there was a bit more to the instrumentation, but to do so would take away from the rock-prayer-like quality it gives out.

This band is about as acoustic as you can get while still being almost totally electric. 'Washed Away' tells of a lost life, with lots of plugged in guitar at medium tempo. Good tunes, gently realized and soulful stories that Must be told. Or else cancer may set in.