Welcome to the meandering musical insights of Aaron Joy (me!), formerly known as the Roman Midnight Music Blog. Here you'll find nearly 750 reviews of CDs & DVDs of rock & metal in all its variations, mainstream & indie, good & bad, U.S. & foreign. A new review every Monday.

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March 14, 2022

Brad Kleiman ~ Melodies & Words (hits comp) (album review) ... Quirky pop lyrics!


Style: pop rock, folk rock
Label: self-released
Year: 2016
Home: New Jersey


Members: Brad Kleiman ~ vocals/guitar/bass/keyboard/drums
Tom Doud ~ drums

This comp brings together many of Brad's solo songs between 2007 to 2015, many released as singles & including all 3 songs from the E.P. EP, which  I've previously reviewed. This is really a great place to get an introduction to his music. As a listener I feel this album has two sides in acoustic folksy rock & electric radio friendly pop rock. Though, that may only just be my interpretation. Starting with the folksy acoustic coffeehouse stuff ... "Modern-Day Classic" is from the E.P., which I previously described as reminding me of Lou Reed, but not so dismal & tormented. Or, to put it another way, it has that slightly brash New York/New Jersey underground style of singer/songwriter, versus something softer like Joni Mitchell. Brad's lyrics are witty & I like the ambiguity that on first listen you may not catch. It starts as a very nice romantic song laying out what is going to be a nice evening ... then the chorus says: "Don't get too comfortable / Don't get too content / Anything is possible / Can't rule out any event." Is this evening going good or bad? After listening for the past review & now again, I still don't know! I love not knowing! "Litter", also from E.P., has a lazy feeling with one of my favorite verses of Brad's: "Took to writing letters / You, know, the litter on your floor / Didn't feel much better / so I wrote some more." Haven't we all done that? I'm sure I have. One complaint I made in my review of the E.P. is none of the songs were long enough for me. I wanted to hear more lyrics. Seeing how the average length of the 10 songs on Melodies & Words are under 2:30 long, I still feel this way. Brad has some good lyrics, but I want to hear them fleshed out more. I've actually complained about some albums on this blog where I wish they were instrumental as the lyrics were distracting & bad. This is the opposite & thus might be a backhanded compliment. Essentially, its good stuff, but I'm still hungry! They say to always leave listeners wanting more! Brad's songs feature an array of characters, but the songs are so brief I don't get much personality. Who is this person you're writing letters to? Who is this woman whose night is before her? Or, who is the guy? What is the story here? I feel that sometimes he finds a witty lyric & leaves it there like a one liner by a stand-up comic. Yet, the songs to me are little stories wanting to be told beyond just the joke. To me he comes across as a storyteller with a guitar, not a comic with a musical background. I'd love to see longer songs that are more story-like where the witty lyrics help tell the story, versus the wit being the focus of the lyrics. The guy knows how to craft fun lyrics, but to quote my high school English teacher Steven Dolmatz, who was also a published poet & folk singer/songwriter, "flesh it out." I used to write that in the margins of papers before I turned them in, as I knew he would say it & I knew I should have done it. I speak from experience as someone who would find something good & then stop out of fear or insecurity of taking it to the next level. What I realized was where I could go was actually more interesting than the point I landed on & thought was awesome. Let the ideas flow, go crazy, then cut them back to workable size. Try it & see what happens. The worst that can happen is you write a bunch that doesn't work & are too long, but when you cut them back you actually create a couple songs out them instead of one. Continuing on from this English lesson, "Shoeprints" paints a very vivid picture of a sexy woman, from her arid wit, to her rapid comebacks, & "She's slender & tight in her jeans", while also talking of her eyes, lips, volcanic hair, & her meaningful walk. You'll drool in lust from his lyrics. You won't need xtube after this song. Yet, returning to my comments on wanting longer songs, what happens next? Essentially, "Her stare makes me panic / though the same pertains to most / When she wears a dark face / I leave open a space / a place to thaw out her ghosts." The song is the lament of a voyeur. It hurts because its not what you want to happen. Brad reminds of me Jack Kerouac, who takes in every detail but doesn't necessarily end up with what he wants & is often nothing more than a voyeur. Jack was the king of voyeurs. I would like to know what happens next in the story of the sexiest woman in song. "Crashpad" follows the same theme of loss with "Miss you badly / Couldn't hold you if I had you / drop-out melody girl" as the song sings of a past Xmas. The song comes out of a found photograph, which is a great writing device I've used myself, but then it throws in the descriptor "drop-out melody girl." She was a drop-out? Why does that matter? What does "melody girl" mean? This is an example of why I'd love longer songs. There's a story here that obviously is begging to be told about this melody girl. Being a drop-out is obviously something important, since its used as the descriptive term, versus describing her hair or personality. Moving on the to the electric pop rock side of the album. On my initial listening of the lyrics, singing & guitars, "Expectations" immediately reminded me of an Ace penned Kiss song. I'm a huge Kiss fan, & Ace's songs are highlights, so this is a big compliment. He has a wonderful quirky style both in lyrics & music, so to find the feeling in someone else is really a huge compliment. The only thing missing is a wild obtuse guitar solo, so this is like a subdued Ace or a demo version looking for Gene's approval. What makes this Ace-like is how the lead electric lines weave between providing melody & providing a solo to counter the singing, yet isn't distracting, while the strummed rhythm guitar is lower in the mix. Its a great balance of the parts. "Mousy Girl" is a fun song that feels ready for radio. The upbeat music disguises the somberness of the lyrics of a man watching a woman fade away & he can't go after her. Another voyeur moment! This is actually one of my favorite songs on the album, as I like the juxtaposition of the mood of the music versus the mood of the lyrics. "Tricky Grey Sky" is a heavily layered song where the music is like a solid wave of sound. Such a difference from the acoustic songs. "5 in the morning / The sky says it's night / I find it comforting / when it's day but not quite ... Tricky grey sky / threatening to storm / Will the dark clouds lie / like they've lied before?" I think the most commercial song is "The Letdown" with its repeating phrase "I know you're gonna leave me hanging" that is then followed by different things such as "like a wrecking ball from a crane" or "I know you're gonna let me down". Its where the simplicity of his lyrics work without needing more, since there's nothing here that is too specific. This song is a lyrical highlight, though it goes against my earlier argument of getting more specific. I'll confess there's always an exception to the rule! If anything it shows Brad's different approach to writing lyrics over the years & that he's regularly trying new things. I described the sound of "Hostage" in my review of E.P. as reminding me of George Harrison due to the vocals, but on later listening I'm more reminded of Robyn Hitchcock. Its a quirky song that sings about being the hostage of someone you love. I like the weaving of the electric guitar here. This is also true for the keyboard heavy "The Whole Platoon" where the lead guitar comes in & out creating a great effect. Its a track that comes out of nowhere in this collection, but is the most musically interesting. This is my other favorite song, even though during the Robert Quine-esque solo I kept humming Lou Reed's "Waltzing Matlida" as Brad is tapping into that Lou spirit again. This is also Brad's most poetic piece where he just lets the words roll. "Descend the depths of your dungeon / Climb to the crest of your cloud / Unharness the hounds for your hunting / Swim laps 'round your lake unallowed ... Love must be like death to you / Until you find it, seems untrue."

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