Issue
#104
Apr.
'08
Saint
Bernadette
is taking the Old
School approach to writing, recording and releasing records. A mere six
months
after their 1st CD, “In
The Ballroom,”
(actually
their 2nd CD, but for that information you
should read our review of
the In
The Ballroom
CD), which eventually went on to become the 2007 “IndepenDisc
of the Year,” Saint B.
drops a new 5 song EP of
beefed up rock.
Prolific,
proficient, and progressive, I
wanna tell you something is
another riveting step in the Saint
Bernadette
cannon. The
husband and wife team of Meredith DiMenna (vocals) and Keith Saunders
(guitar,
bass, vocals), along with Joe Novelli (astral slide), Brandy Ruelas
(piano,
hammond organ, rhodes, percussion) and Kevin Saunders (drums), realize
the
power of getting their music out there into the public’s ears
– Bringing the
music to the masses and to keep on bringing it – not just the
same CD of songs
over and over, but more, a natural progression of fertile growth,
skilled and
adept at taking expanding influences and merging them into their sound
for a
unique, individual take that intrigues and delights. At a point where
everything is fresh and new, even the “older”
songs, the “back-Catalogue” songs
take on a novel air of their own.
But, it’s
the 5
new songs we’re concerned about here – In
Between opens the CD with
the distinctive Saint
B. retro-jazz beat and Meredith’s aching sex-kitten vocals.
This quickly boils
over into a full blown wall-of-sound production, giving credence to
Meredith’s
admittance that they’ve wandered into “Kelly
Clarkson territory” and that they
take responsibility for their art – “Not
true” says Keith ;-). Truer to this reviewer’s
ears is Meredith’s fondness for musicals - (Saint Bernadette
takes their name from
Grease, where Cha Cha DiGregorio is
“the best dancer at Saint Bernadette’s”
and who
Meredith played in her HS production) – Big Musicals, and to
that extent (and
perhaps going out on a limb here) I wanna tell you
something
can be called
Saint Bernadette’s High School Musical for adults. And you
know what? They pull
it off. In Between showcases the
versatility of the group with an overture of big, dirty, lustful,
overblown-soundtrack perfection, right down to the songs final
crescendo.
Love Is a
Stranger furthers
the theatrical aspect of this production as Meredith
solidifies her Shaman status with a Chrissie Hynde cum Jim Morrison
vocal
pitching against a Doors/Jefferson Airplane groove. Another slow and
seductive
burner that expands into a big, wall-of-sound show-stopper and takes on
the
sexual aspect of the lyrics, churning them into a chaotic cacophony of
instrumentation (Joe Novelli’s astral slide here is simply
astounding) on the
final bridge. Then, One In a
Million finds Meredith
crooning, yearning, and belting out the facts in a
Madonna/Gwen Stefani/Debra Harry vocal while the band is bouncing down
the
block of a tremulous relationship summed up with the perfect line of
“Hey / Hey / Hey baby / You
don’t need a
dollar / to get into my show.” Once into that (or
this) show we’re smacked
with another full-blown production number: Hard To Believe is down and dirty to
the max - this is where the
whole show comes to fruition – Saint Bernadette attacks us with a
Deep Purple
edge pushing a Grand Funk Railroad groove, forcing it to spill off the
stage
and into the audience as Meredith brings it all from the gut and slams
it home in
the sexiest, nastiest swagger any women has a right to display
– “No man ever left me /
no man ever would / no
man ever left me / no man ever could.” A woman
scorned, but bragging of her
conquests, creating an object of desire with equal parts fear and
intrigue,
dancing on the edge of the music that is exploding in an ominous,
destructive
force as seductive as the bravado spit forth: “If
you tell me what you’re thinking baby / we can give it a try
/ If
you tell me what you’re drinking baby / we can take this
higher.” It’s a 2-minute
plus charge through all the implied glory a sexual goddess/Sha-woman
can
muster.
The title track ends
the CD and our mini-musical stage production with
the exact opposite of everything the first 4 songs brought us. Stripped
bare,
our funky, sexy, man-eating, tough guy/gal Shaman (Sha-woman) exposes
the
heart, soul, and tenderness under the hard exterior shell that has been
protecting her throughout this show. With a soft early Linda Ronstadt
vocal
sweetly rolling along the acoustic guitar accompaniment, our
heroine/goddess/love object sets everything at ease “Come stay with me / and in the morning
we’ll see / it don’t really
matter to me / tonight I got all that I need / OooooooooOoooooo.”
If Saint Bernadette continues to
progress in this prolific
and proficient manner, using Old School style schedules and
sensibilities in
regard to recording and releasing music, crossed with their keen ear
and heart
for grand musical productions, then it will be us, the listeners who
will have
all that we need… OooooooooOoooooo.
Saint Bernadette - i wanna tell
you something
is available now for: $4.99 +s/h*
 View
Shopping Cart / Checkout
Accepting
Credit Cards and PayPal
*Shipping
&
Handling charges:
USA - $3.00
for the first 2 CDs
ordered,
Add $1.50 per each CD after.
Canada - $5.00 for the
first
CD ordered,
Add $2.00 per each CD after.
Everywhere else -$7.00
for the
first CD ordered,
Add $3.00 per each CD after.
|
