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Elly Roberts reviews
Warner Bros.
- October 2007
- Rating: 8/10
Looking like genre stablemate Harry Connick Jr, Peter Cincotti breaks loose from his Jazz roots. At 24, he looks and sounds years older.
Its a strange change of code for the New Yorker having built a massive reputationas a jazz singer pianist of great acclaim. Connick took some time to branch out,and never as early as this. This, his third, and first for Warner, sees himcollaborating with famed producer and multiple Grammy winner David Foster(Michael Buble, Josh Groban) and Fosters regular handymen Humberto Gatica andJochem van der Saag. Lyrically hes tied up with John Bettis (The Carpenters,Madonna).
Vocally, hes better than Buble, but nowhere near as great as Connick, the master.Nevertheless, East Of Angel Town is a meritorious effort, with single GoodbyePhiladelphia getting substantial airplay.
Opener Angel Town still retains a jazzy element, wheras the single hasmore of a traditional American songbook feel of the Randy newman quality, where Cincotti shows some fine vocal skills. Things go strictly upbeaton the romping Be Careful, broken by delicate piano tinkling segued byfurther romping. A tale of love and loneliness in the Big Apple feature onCinderella Beautiful, dripping in melancholic lyrics and piano work. ABilly Joel-like power ballad, Make It Out Alive would do much to furtherenhance Cincottis commercial profile as a next single.
Further in, the smooth Man On A Mission is a belting urban jazz classicwith lush string arrangements and sublime sax breaks. Rounding off a classyalbum he closes with one of three self-penned songs, the beautifully constructedand divine ballad Country Life, showing he can write an excellent songwithout a partner.
File under: Tasty.
Weblinks:petercincotti.com /myspace.com/petercincotti /warnerbrosrecords.com
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Angel Town
2. Goodbye Philadelphia
3. Be Careful
4. Cinderella Beautiful
5. Make It Out Alive
6. December Boys
7. UBU
8. Another Falling Star
9. Broken Children
10. Man On A Mission
11. Always Watching You
12. Witchs Brew
13. The Country Life
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.