Issue
#110
Sept. '08
It’s been
six years since Uncle Carl’s
sophomore CD, “Bring Me Your Children.”
We described
that ’02 release as “solid
musicianship
parlaying a smooth mixture of jazz-club R&B with a Rock tilt
wrapped around
semi-serious lyrics that give us tales slanted to the humorous side of
life and
it’s up and downs.” We also stated,
“as
you mix another cocktail remember that the
‘Children’ Uncle Carl
wants brought to him is the Child that remains in us all.”
With his 3rd release, “The
End of the World,” “Uncle”
Carl Vreeland has left both the child and his band behind.
Writing,
performing and recording the album himself, Uncle
Carl offers up a loose, semi-autobiographical, concept,
song-cycle album exploring the space between losing and gaining love,
life, and
personal fulfillment.
Opening with the title track, the Sylvia Dee/Arthur Kent
classic The End of
the World, Uncle
Carl sets a somber tone of heartache and loss with light
piano and sparse
accompaniment. His sadness continues with Please Come With Me, another
ballad
that sets the lights low as the music highlights the solemn tale of how
he
tries to beg her from boarding the train that will carry her out of his
life.
Was his confessional enough to convince her? Can he really change? The
plea
from the guitar is betrayed by the piano and somehow we know
she’s not buying
it this time. Closing the fist cycle we get I Saw Irene Today,
possibly Uncle Carl’s
catchiest song
to date: An up-tempo, sing-along, that seems to pick up three years
later when
our narrator happens to spot his old girlfriend and does what he can to
hide
from her, all the while trying to watch her and reflecting how
“I use to worship her/but then she
left me
flat/she didn’t tell me that/she was gay,”
and “Yeah, she busted up that heart
of mine/no, I didn’t see the signs/when
she told me she was leaving/I nearly up and died.”
The 2nd cycle picks up where we’d
expect to find
any heartbroken musician; All My Friends
Are Drunks sports a bourbon-soaked, slow-tempo, haunting tale
related in a
beat poet style reading that explains the dead-end of drinking
one’s problems
into submission only to find that it wasn’t the answer, even
if it seemed like
it was at the time. Fighting through the alcohol, we get a piano ballad
that
comes across as a sad, tender, out-pouring of heartache. But upon
closer
listen, Without You
is a joyful happy ode to finally being without that
person who was holding him down, holding him back. This is a liberation
song,
which should be sung with an uplifting lilt and even a side of
in-your-face
triumph. Instead, Uncle Carl
delivers
it exactly as he feels it: while the words speak of elation, the music,
mood,
and heart are as low as they can be without her. To finish this cycle
we get a
bit of gospel blues that tries to tell us to leave God and religion out
of your
drinking and sorrow over lost love. Don’t Get Drunk On Jesus
is our
protagonist’s failed attempt to debunk God’s role
in affairs of the heart.
Again, it is the music that betrays him here: while he’s
preaching to avoid the
spiritual connection, the music conveys the truth behind the denial.
But like any good/true story, the denial must be acted
out/upon. The 3rd song-cycle is where our main
character dives
headlong into total debauchery. Good
Time and Oh Well
celebrate Classic
Uncle Carl with solid, jazzy, R&B bouncing out a joyful mix of
slinky
rhythms and tight leads accompanied by soothing hooks, serious grooves
and
lyrical witticisms of fantastic fun and frivolity. The Devil Is Me wraps
up
that fun and frivolity with a confessional that comes forth from all
that came
before. Call it a reawakening, call it a rebirth, call it baptism by
fire, but
with unrelenting rhythm and lead guitar forcing the issue home, we
realize that
change has come.
The Final cycle begins with a dedication to “Suzie”
– I’m
In Love Again is that
tender piano ballad to the beautifulness that is love. Hailing its
saving grace
and all the joy that brings tears to the eyes in a good way. You
Bring Me Back To My Heart and I’m Learning To Love
close this
story, much the same way it started, in plain and simple terms. This
time
instead of lamenting the loss of love and the heartache that ensued,
our singer
extols the virtues that love (both mortal and spiritual) can give, but
also
acknowledges that it isn’t something that can be given for
your satisfaction,
it is something that must be worked for and accepted not as an easy
solution to
your problems, but as a path that must be traversed daily.
It seems as though in six years Uncle Carl
has revisited a lifetime and more.
It isn’t The End of
the World,
It just seemed that way.
And the hidden track let’s us know that for all the
seriousness of the preceding tale, this musician can still live, love,
and
laugh just the same as always.
Check the smile and the wink as our Unc
closes out his finest work to date.
The End of the World
by Uncle Carl
is available now for: $9.98 +s/h*
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Handling charges:
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Add $1.50 per each CD after.
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