They open the album with “Keep
Talking,” which begins with a good, kind of mellow groove before Gretchen’s
vocals come in. “I should have told you a
long time ago/That I love the way you talk/And I want more/Keep talking, baby,
keep talking to me.” The song has a friendly, kind of sweet vibe, and I
love the horns. It builds to an energetic finish. That’s followed by “Love You
Forever.” My mom once sent to me a children’s book titled Love You Forever. It is far and away the creepiest thing I’ve ever
read, and includes a mother sneaking into her adult son’s window late at night
(there is even a ladder at the window in the illustration). And, yeah, I was in
my late twenties when my mom sent it to me. I still have the book, because
people don’t believe me when I tell them about it. Anyway, this song has
absolutely nothing to do with that book, apart from having the same title,
which caused this little trip down Creepy Memory Lane. There is nothing creepy
whatsoever about this song. This song has soul and passion. And again I love
the horns. “Oh, baby, baby, baby, if you
say that you want me to, I will/Because baby, oh baby, oh baby, believe me, if
you want me to, I will/I will love you forever.” I believe her.
I really dig the cool vibe that
is established at the beginning of “Easy On My Heart,” one of my personal
favorites. “But I’m scared to know if you’ll
leave me/Honey, I am scared to know if we will fall apart/But if you stay/You’ll
make it easy on my heart.” And when the horns come in, it just gets better.
This is a seriously enjoyable song, and it takes some interesting turns. And
then it explodes toward the end, becoming louder, more powerful, more vibrant.
What a ride! “Fall Into You” is a mellower, pretty love song. “I have been many places/I’ve seen other
faces/But nothing compares/To you.” Ah, how wonderful to have someone say
something like that to you. This one also builds into something powerful and
gorgeous.
Things then get funky with “Let
Me Do My Thing.” I like this song, although it opens with that “shelf”/“self” rhyme,
which I never care for. How can anyone help but love that bass? “I’m going to get right, and get loose/These
things that I need to do/I don’t love you, and that’s true.” Oh, I think
she’s going to do her thing, whether you let her or not. “Back And Forth” has a
heavy, bluesy vibe to start, a slow, steady rhythm. And Gretchen gives a
wonderful and varied vocal performance. “It
has been a while/Since you came around, since you came around/And I feel a bit
depressed.” The album concludes with “Time And Time Ago,” which has a good
groove. Check out these lines: “Time
heals everything/Well, I don’t know/I still feel the weight of all this damn
sorrow.” This track gets good and
strange toward the end (and is that a slight nod to “Rhapsody In Blue” on horn
around the 2:47 mark?).
CD Track List
- Keep Talking
- Love You Forever
- Easy On My Heart
- Devil’s Due
- Fall Into You
- Let Me Do My Thing
- Take Flight
- Back And Forth
- Far, Far We Go
- Time And Time Ago
Falling Rising was released on April 25, 2018. By the way, there
are two different covers for this album. They have the same artwork, but
use different colors. Mine is dominated by pink; some copies are dominated by
yellow.
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