It opens with “Seven Wonders,” which right away has a
catchy groove to get you in the right mood. And then Holly’s wonderful and
distinctive voice comes in. This tune has a delightful, classic feel, with some
cool work on guitar. It’s followed by “Fool Fool Fool (Look In The Mirror),”
the one cover song on this CD. This tune was written by Rudy Clark, and performed
by Barbara Lewis. There are other versions of “Fool Fool Fool,” by groups like
Ray Brown And The Whispers and Joey And The Flips, attributed to Rudy Clark,
but those seem like a completely different song. So did Rudy Clark write a song
titled “Fool Fool Fool,” and then another song a few years later titled “Fool
Fool Fool (Look In The Mirror)”? It seems that way. Anyway, this recording by
Holly Golightly is excellent. She’s really got that 1960s vibe happening. What
a wonderful vocal performance.
“Frozen In Time” is one of my personal favorites on this
disc. Holly’s vocals are so smooth and sexy and sweet, and there is a wonderful
jazzy feel to it, due of course in part to George Simmonds’ presence on
trombone. Here is a taste of the lyrics: “Drink
‘til we’re dry/Think we can fly/Falling like rocks into the river/Even though I’ve
tried/I can’t seem to find/Any way to leave you behind.” There is also a
jazzy element to the delightful and quirky “Empty Space,” another favorite,
which makes great uses of pauses. “There’s
an empty space where you should have had something to say/I got no more time to
waste on silence, I won’t wait.” I completely love the bass on this track.
“As You Go Down” is another of this album’s many
highlights. It has a fantastic 1960s sound and is full of kick-ass attitude. I
mean, check out these lines: “And all you
recall as you hit the ground/Will be the sound of the crowd cheering out
loud/As you go down, you go down, you go down, you go down, you go down”
and “And that knife in your back will be
turning some more.” This is one that has me dancing around in my apartment
and singing along. I just fucking love this song. And speaking of 1960s rock
sounds, the opening of “Stopped My Heart” sounds a lot like Jefferson
Airplane’s “The Ballad Of You &Me & Pooneil” (“If you were a bird and you lived very high…”), though a bit slower.
“Slowtown” has something of a cool, dark country vibe,
which I love. It’s a song about taking a break from the road: “The road gets as weary as it’s long,” “Don’t worry about a thing, swing by and
rest/You get too tired to go on, heading east then heading west/Leave your
troubles at the door.” And this song gives the album its title, in the line
“You can come on down/I live in Slowtown
now.” I really like the way those lines are repeated at the end.
“What You See” features more great 1960s sounds, and is
yet one more highlight. It has kind of a peppy sound, but with lyrics that work
in wonderful contrast. Actually, it’s almost like the sound of the song is the
very front she sings about. After all, the first line is “See me smile, you think I’m glad.” A little later she sings, “But all you know ain’t all there is to
show/And what you don’t I won’t ever let you know/You won’t ever know.”
CD Track List
- Seven Wonders
- Fool Fool Fool (Look In The Mirror)
- Frozen In Time
- As You Go Down
- Stopped My Heart
- Empty Space
- Catch Your Fall
- Slowtown
- Hell To Pay
- What You See
- Forevermore
- When I Wake
Slowtown Now!
is scheduled to be released on September 11, 2015 through Damaged Goods. (Well, that's the date listed on the press sheet, anyway. On the Damaged Goods site, the release date is given as August 28, 2015. And on Amazon, it's listed as coming out on August 21, 2015.)
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