Musical Treasure Chest
by Alan Zee
Musical treasure chest number four from Joe Ongie begins with what has become a tradition; an appearance (or maybe an apparition) from Granny Vegas herself to start off the quite possibly autobiographical title track, "Critical Darling." Jangly guitars, glockenspiel and piano ring out and then off we go into another musical Ongie mind-meld.
This CD is similar to "Lovefest" in that it explores a plethora of musical styles, with straight ahead medium rockers like "Critical Darling," "Danny Flowers," and "Sad Ever After," moody set pieces like "Death by 1000 Cuts," "Vodka Chaser," and "Unspoken" as well a song format he does extremely well but all too rarely, the guitar chord anthem ("Sleepwalking World, a standout track on this collection). "Waking the Dead" is the "silly" song on this disk; banjos, gypsy violins and honky tonk piano along with a shuffling snare drum turn this up-tempo tune into something quite clever and amusing.
Once again his backing musicians are stellar and the vocals are miles deep in places. Beautiful harmonies and crunchy "massive" lead guitars at the right places combine to make a wide musical expanse. The recording is also impeccable; dozens of tracks per song at times, crystalline highs on the acoustic guitars and clear lows on the organ, piano and that vintage Fender Jazz. Ain't technology great? A great record, truly. Get this one just for "Unspoken" and "Sleepwalking World.
