Album – Like a Metaphor – Rob Szabo

Posted by admin on January 31st, 2007

  • Band / Artist : Rob SzabomySpace
  • Genre : Acoustic / Pop
  • Sample Track Download : N/A
  • Buy CD : CD Baby
  • Buy Digital Download : iTunes
  • Rating : 9 out of 10

I have to admit I hate the term “Easy Listening” as it alludes to the music my parents used to listen to, when I was a kid and I’m not talking Beatles or Stones here. It was the kind of pipe and slippers music, that didn’t have to worry about offending the senses. I only mention this because whilst listening to this album from Rob Szabo, I couldn’t get the term easy listening out of my head, not because of the previously mentioned memories, but because it was just that, wonderful music that almost caresses with it’s tenderness.

The album opens with “Beautiful” which has a wonderful vibe to it and was the track that brought Rob to my attention via the CBC Radio 3 podcast. Yes indeedy this is another wonderful Canadian artist. Rob has a voice that whilst being easy to listen to, has a hint of uniqueness to it, which helps to make the whole album standout from many similar easy listening albums. “Breaking Even” has that air of radio friendly hit about it. I can just imagine this blaring out of the radio on a hot summers day. “A Sad Song” is just a wonderfully relaxed and mellow song, which just has a wonderful acoustic guitar featured throughout and we all know what a sucker I am for acoustic stuff. The acoustic sound is exemplified in the track “Good Son”, which is a wonderful track to listen to while wearing headphones and is one of my favorite tracks on the album. The only track on the album that doesn’t fit for me, is “The Johnstown Kids”, which whilst not being the only track with a more poppy feel to it, just stands out from the rest of the album as sort of being the odd one out.

The album ends off with a six and a half minute track “The Others”, which I wasn’t a fan off the first few times I listened to it. It’s very much in keeping with the rest of the album, but something about it seemed labored. Now however I feel it’s a track that closes the album off nicely, which is probably because I am more accustomed to the album as a whole, rather than trying to pick over each track individually.

Conclusion : One of my favorite reviewed acoustic albums, was Just Before Dark from Mike Viola’s solo album, he of the Candy Butchers. This album is right up there with it.

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