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joelmusicgroup demarche (2001, Promotional Self-Release)
Joelmusicgroup is the project of NY guitarist Joel Maslakowski, who
performs all instruments and vocals on the twelve-track promotional
CD-R demarche. Judging from the track listing, demarche
appears to be an early version of the 2001 CD six degrees of
freedom, joelmusicgroup's third self-released album.
The songwriting is standard lead-guitar pop with a few prog rock
flourishes, similar to Steve Vai's recent attempts at songs with
vocals. The songs plod through rigid expositions and long guitar
solos, the tempos routinely dragging too slow to retain excitement.
Only a few tunes stand out, including the chromatic "Round in Circles."
The lyrics are trite fluff ("tell me one time / tell me again that you
care for me") sung in a husky, John Wetton-style delivery. Maslakowski's lead
guitar is fluid and articulate, but the solos often run excessively
long. The layered vocals are effective, the bass guitar and background
synths are unobtrusive, but the bland drumming repeatedly stumbles in
tempo. The resulting sloppiness from this and the other instruments
trying to sync to the out-of-time drums kills any sense of
professionalism in the solid sound production.
Joelmusicgroup turns in a yeoman-like effort on the demarche
promotional CD with Maslakowski's performance of all instruments and
vocals, but he will need to dramatically improve his songwriting and
enlist a real rhythm section if he hopes for joelmusicgroup to make an
impact. The website at www.joelmusicgroup.com loaded only a blank
page, but information on six degrees of freedom can be found elsewhere
on the Internet.
Reviewed by Scott Andrews [scottandrews@his.com]
More Info on six degrees of freedom:
http://www.progressiveworld.net/joelmusicgroup.html
http://www.tandet.freeserve.co.uk/joelmusicgroup.html
http://www.cs.uu.nl/people/jur/reviews/sixdegreesoffreedom.html
Track Listing:
1. Tell Me One Time
2. Mito 006
3. Remember The Way
4. Lonely
5. In The Name O' The Father
6. 40 Hours
7. Change The World
8. My Inferno
9. Raven's Cry
10. Home Free
11. Before We Lost
12. Round In Circles
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