Muse's Muse Music Reviews - by Ben Ohmart

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Arnold J. Olenick

Demo:

I don't often get a cd by a 'songwriter'. Usually, it's the singer-songwriter. A term which is getting as overused as millenium. I would make a good Dennis Miller ranting about this, since songwriters seem to be low course on the food chain. Even as a writer of comedy, too many people assume I'm a performer just because I write comedy. What??!?!

Rant adrift, we paddle on... I didn't get lyrics or info on the singers with this cdr, so I'll just comment on the music. It is the classic kind. Some would call it nostalgia, but that's the wrong term, since this is NEW music. True, it evokes that lost feeling of pre-Elvis years when pop music didn't have guitar parents, but easy listening may be a closer pen name for this stuff which is quite a pleasant listen.

There are some wonderful jazz tunes here like 'Blues That Never Seem To Go Away'. A good combo sound for this demo. Plus gentle piano ballads with a crooning mama; things you'd really expect to hear on a new Jeeves and Wooster series or that AMC show about old radio shows. Some of the songs are almost ready to be on an album on their own. Cds don't cost That much to make now. If you can gig, Arnold - or want to - perhaps you should grab yourself a singer who wants to do clubbing, and sell cds after performances. I can just hear this stuff in some NYC club at 3am. Tunes like 'Once Upon a Time'. Oh yes.

Arnold's also asked for a little advice. But in the letter he sent along, it seems he's going the right route. He's already got many of these tunes out and cruising around publishers. So he must have the addresses. From Songwriter's Market? Well, if you don't have it, get it, or research into people/groups that are more into Your kind of music.

For instance, subscribe to newsgroups on musicals, old time radio, swing, even the aged. Not that your stuff is for Old fogies, but you have to admit, times Have changed. Like classical music, 'standards' as a genre will never again be top of the charts with the mainstream. So, ask yourself who Listens to my music. Then go seek them out. You NEVER know who has a connection. Ask around in theatre or easy listening circles enough, and you'll get more specific advice you can Use. Meantime, I hope this general muck helps.

Contact Information:
Arnold J. Olenick
1501 Beacon St. Apt. 404
Brookline, MA 02446
617-232-7972
ajo@world.std.com

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Last Updated: Wednesday, 19-May-1999 01:12:36 EDT
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