the way it is - Reviews
Alan West
the way it is
NEO Music NEO0111EP
****
An all-too-brief collection of real-life tales from the country
Alan West possesses a voice to die for. His rich, slightly edgy tones are made for true life yarns
and this all-too-brief six-song EP features some classics from an idiom that appears to be a lost art
form in today’s country mainstream. The songs he’s chosen are lesser-known gems from the likes
of Jefferson Ross, Steve Black, Jim Almand and Hugh Moffatt. West puts his surprisingly deep
voice to fairly good use on Ross’s tale of Hornet Hawkins, but even better is West’s rendition of
The Prophet Elijah, a morally-rich yarn with a melody and chorus that wraps itself around your
brain and has you reciting the words to yourself days later. Steve Black’s Alaska (Take Me Back)
is a great opener with a fond reflection of another place and time full of equal shares of regret and
optimism. Black teams up with Jim Almand for the wry It’s Enough To Kill Ya and underrated
songwriter Hugh Moffatt comes up with the perfect barroom song in Whiskey Up that deserves to
be a country jukebox smash—maybe in a different time and place. You’re On Your Own closes
the EP out with nice acoustic guitar work, a great vocal performance from West and more great
emotive lyrics. THE WAY IT IS is well-produced with such players as Pat McInerney, Leanne
Etheridge, Thomm Jutz, Dean Barnes and Justin Moses adding their talents and providing a sound
that is polished and ready for extended play and widespread acclaim.
Alan Cackett, Editor, Maverick Magazine, March/April 2012
Alan West - the way it is
NEO Music
I am not exactly certain whether to call this CD a short album or a long EP. Perhaps a new sampler might be the best description of this collection of six tunes from Devon based Alan West. Blessed with the kind of voice that many can only dream of having Alan wraps his vocals around three tunes from stable mate Steve Black’s catalogue, two Savannah based Jefferson Ross cuts and one from Hugh Moffatt who, of course, has had songs recorded by many of the great and good within Country Music. The album opens with the highly visually descriptive ‘Alaska (Take Me Back)’. You can just feel the huge expansive topography of the land as the writer yearns to return to the clean air and relative freedom. ‘The Prophet Elijah’ is up next and is what it states on the box being a peon to a simpler peaceful time to come where there is no bigotry, wars etc. Moonshine production as made by ‘Hornet Hawkins’ is a fine story song redolent of Country Music with Hornet outsmarting the law at every turn. The up-tempo fun of ‘It’s Enough To Kill Ya’ is kind of a drinking song with a totally infectious chorus and you’ll be singing right along with it as it gets its hooks into you. We continue the drinking trilogy with ‘Whiskey Up’. However this concentrates on the downside as the drinker, deeply lonely following the death of his love, drinks his way deeper into his cups. The best song comes last though. ‘You’re On Your Own’ allows a view for just a moment of how, even when at the top of hill musically, you can feel all alone. Just a fabulous song to round off proceedings.
Graeme Scott, Blues Matters, Jan 2012
the way it is
NEO Music NEO0111EP
****
An all-too-brief collection of real-life tales from the country
Alan West possesses a voice to die for. His rich, slightly edgy tones are made for true life yarns
and this all-too-brief six-song EP features some classics from an idiom that appears to be a lost art
form in today’s country mainstream. The songs he’s chosen are lesser-known gems from the likes
of Jefferson Ross, Steve Black, Jim Almand and Hugh Moffatt. West puts his surprisingly deep
voice to fairly good use on Ross’s tale of Hornet Hawkins, but even better is West’s rendition of
The Prophet Elijah, a morally-rich yarn with a melody and chorus that wraps itself around your
brain and has you reciting the words to yourself days later. Steve Black’s Alaska (Take Me Back)
is a great opener with a fond reflection of another place and time full of equal shares of regret and
optimism. Black teams up with Jim Almand for the wry It’s Enough To Kill Ya and underrated
songwriter Hugh Moffatt comes up with the perfect barroom song in Whiskey Up that deserves to
be a country jukebox smash—maybe in a different time and place. You’re On Your Own closes
the EP out with nice acoustic guitar work, a great vocal performance from West and more great
emotive lyrics. THE WAY IT IS is well-produced with such players as Pat McInerney, Leanne
Etheridge, Thomm Jutz, Dean Barnes and Justin Moses adding their talents and providing a sound
that is polished and ready for extended play and widespread acclaim.
Alan Cackett, Editor, Maverick Magazine, March/April 2012
Alan West - the way it is
NEO Music
I am not exactly certain whether to call this CD a short album or a long EP. Perhaps a new sampler might be the best description of this collection of six tunes from Devon based Alan West. Blessed with the kind of voice that many can only dream of having Alan wraps his vocals around three tunes from stable mate Steve Black’s catalogue, two Savannah based Jefferson Ross cuts and one from Hugh Moffatt who, of course, has had songs recorded by many of the great and good within Country Music. The album opens with the highly visually descriptive ‘Alaska (Take Me Back)’. You can just feel the huge expansive topography of the land as the writer yearns to return to the clean air and relative freedom. ‘The Prophet Elijah’ is up next and is what it states on the box being a peon to a simpler peaceful time to come where there is no bigotry, wars etc. Moonshine production as made by ‘Hornet Hawkins’ is a fine story song redolent of Country Music with Hornet outsmarting the law at every turn. The up-tempo fun of ‘It’s Enough To Kill Ya’ is kind of a drinking song with a totally infectious chorus and you’ll be singing right along with it as it gets its hooks into you. We continue the drinking trilogy with ‘Whiskey Up’. However this concentrates on the downside as the drinker, deeply lonely following the death of his love, drinks his way deeper into his cups. The best song comes last though. ‘You’re On Your Own’ allows a view for just a moment of how, even when at the top of hill musically, you can feel all alone. Just a fabulous song to round off proceedings.
Graeme Scott, Blues Matters, Jan 2012