Larry - Lucy, I'm In Love (©2005 Elvis
& Sweetie Pie Records)
1:
Don't
Worry 2: When You Comin' Home 3: Dug in Deep 4: Happy 5: Mr. Time 6:
Lucy 7: Maybe Someday
8: Follow the Sun 9: Green Room 10: I'm in Love 11: Rollin' 12: Your Kiss
Larry is the old fart version of a dynamic pop duo. Think parts Hall & Oates, The Rembrandts, Air Supply, Mutt and Jeff and you’re getting close to not quite describing the sound of these two veteran musicians.
Glen Lystne has been around a while toiling in various bands you’ve probably never heard of such as Citizen Joe. Marty Dieckmeyer is a different story, at least from my perspective, Marty was Daniel Amos’ original bass player, and as far as I’m concerned in my rock pantheon you don’t get any bigger than the venerable rocking cowboys. Okay, so Marty hasn’t been heard from since 1981, it doesn’t mean he’s been dead.
Here we are pushing 25 years later, and these two seasoned talents have put out a delightfully tasty collection of pop songs. They’re not hard rock, they’re not alt rock, they’re not Americana … they’re not derivative either since these two are almost old enough to have been around the first time some of these so called retro sounds were considered edgy (I figured I was getting too many old reference in, and didn’t want them to get a complex).
I have to admit this was really pleasant, and thankfully didn’t suck hairy tennis balls through a straw. Glen has a pleasant everyman voice, which lends a lot of charm to the recording. Marty is quite the busy bee throughout, playing not only bass, but guitar, keyboards, percussion and organ. David Raven add the back beat, which is very cool.
This was obviously a record the boys wanted to make, as there’s a tight looseness to the recording (internal editor: “Wait a minute, what is a tight looseness? You can’t just make up things like that can you?” Sure I can, I can do whatever I want) that gives this an easy natural feeling. You can tell they’re having fun. God bless the computer geeks of the world who have enabled home recordings to sound so good.
Most of the songs work really well. I really like the groove of the title track – it almost sounds like a song Barenaked Ladies could record. “When You Comin’ Home” is a song that is so familiar I can’t quite place it (Train, Dave Matthews, The Who?) … I’m sure at some point I’ll be able to place it. There are some unabashed pop songs such as “I’m in Love” which is infectious. The only song I didn’t really like right off was “Mister Time” which overtime has started to click. While there’s admittedly nothing groundbreaking here, there’s always room for a well crafted pop song.
This is pretty limited in terms of distribution so you’ll have to hunt for it. Try danielamos.com, cdbaby, or write the guys directly musiclarry-at-hotmail.com
Reviewed August 10, 2005
Additional Nov 4, 2005
P.S. Ah-hah! It was "If You're Gone" by Matchbox 20. There, now I can sleep
tonight.
