New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
The latest CD Reservoir by J. Kelley (available on iTunes and CDBaby) is an eclectic and energetic collection of 14 songs all composed and sung by the local musician, Jason Kelley. It’s like a birthday party on a disc.
The festivities begin with a banging rocker, ‘Borrowed Time’, that sets the tone for the album. An end-of-the-road song about starting over: “I’ll pick myself up and brush myself off/Tip my hat and say I’ve had enough.” A ripping guitar solo by George Piva beautifully seizes the moment at the song’s center and brings it all home for the final chorus.
Track 2 ‘Shake You’ is the obvious hit with its infectious hook and beat. A video of this tune was produced and filmed locally at various venues in Downtown New Bedford. So far it has received 79,000+ hits on YouTube!
I have to take a moment here and say I have been a big fan of J.Kelley ever since I first saw the band play at the Pour Farm Tavern a few years ago. I was impressed by the crisp original tunes and the eclectic mix of cover songs done their own way. Jason always surrounds himself with great players and he has followed that plan on the CD. The aforementioned George Piva on lead guitar, Rob Massoud on bass/keyboards/backup vocals, Dave Gries on bass, Gabe Cabral on drums and Colin Bradley on organ- all great players who give it their all on this production. I loved his previous CD Untied (available on iTunes) and I was eager to hear more.
Other stand-out tracks include ‘Think Of Me Well’ with tremendous vocals supplied by Jason and Rob, ‘Sophia Rose’ sounds like it could have been lifted from Born To Run, and my favorite track ‘In The Cool’ starts out with a great blues riff then settles in with a steamy beat- a truly great arrangement. I really wish it had been placed higher on the track order.
The CD finishes up with yet another rocker ‘Bring This Home’, a song about the city, alienation and New Bedford: “I’ll go down to the waterfront, down to Union Street/There’s friends down there with honest eyes and a steady beat/ We’re raised here and we’ll die here/and everything in between/It shapes us and makes us/it becomes our legacy.” Well-written indeed.
The sound quality is outstanding. Kudos to Scott Riebling for a great mix and to Andy VanDette for a tremendous mastering job, the songs jump off the speakers (you may be hearing from me and Dori soon).
If I rated with stars it would be 4 1/2 stars out of a possible 5. If I rated with grades, it would be A-. But I do neither. I listened with my heart and I enjoyed every second of it.
