Opening track Daddy
Wazza Roller is a good example of how out of the box the album can get.
Acoustic guitars and harmonicas fill up speakers to the point where you hardly
notice the standard rock band instruments (drums, bass, and electric guitar) but
I think the best part of the song is the slide guitar. The slide guitar is an
art I’ve grown to appreciate so much more since the past summer, and it is
played pretty darn well on this track.
The following track, Direction
is more of a standard blues rock song. The pace is a little faster but the tempo
is soft. The guitar sound remains crunchy and Turk’s voice, which has just the
perfect amount of rasp to it, but he can craft it so well into a beautiful cry
when he needs to, such as in many parts of this song. This is pretty much his
singing style throughout the album, but with different songs backing his voice,
like the slow blues track Karma Wisdom
and the soulful following track Da Wheel,
which is the first truly beautiful soft song on the album.
The album does have an all around soft feel to it, nothing
too heavy and nothing too hard. Da Wheel
is followed by an equally beautiful track called Nice to Know, this time featuring more acoustic guitars and fewer
organs, unlike the previous track. Held
A Rose is the last of these soulful ballads, this song specifically shows
more country influence than the previous two.
Then there is a song like Miles ‘n’ Miles which I can’t categorize. Essentially the song is
an acoustic song with a simple bass drum beat. It’s accompanied by a wide
number of sound effects that just make the song sound like it’s coming straight
from a hard working farm boy. This isn’t a soft song like Da Wheel or Nice to Know,
but it isn’t a hard rock song, it’s like a neo-country track that I find
strangely appealing.
The album does have its meat to it. Rollin’ has that roadhouse blues attitude that I love so much, with
a hard driving guitar riff, great harmonized vocals and that slide guitar I
love so much. The song shows that Turk can make a song with electric guitars
just as well as he can make a song with acoustic guitars. Wasted keeps the badass feel of Rollin’, but calms it down to
something more similar to Soul Casino’s opening tracks.
The album ends with a song that I feel sums up the album
pretty well. West On Train is
primarily acoustic, with other instruments chiming in as the song goes forward,
but at no point is the song soft. The song brings one last chance to hear fine
vocal melodies and a band that infuses country and blues just so well. This is
one of those closing tracks that I feel couldn’t have been better picked, because
if a listener of Soul Casino truly liked the album, this song would leave them
wanting more.
Turk
Tresize has such a believable way of delivering his music. You can
hear it in his voice that he’s likely singing from experience. Even though
influences are ever present in his song writing, he becomes the songs so well
that you really do believe that he’s lived his songs. I don’t see why any fans
of raspy voiced blues/country influenced rock wouldn’t enjoy Soul Casino.
ALBUM HIGHLIGHT
“Karma Wisdom” – Not one of the soft
songs on the album, but not one of the completely badass roadhouse songs; Karma Wisdom falls in the middle, which
is exactly the kind of song I love to proclaim the highlight. The song has a
nice bluesy riff and rhythm with soulful singing. It has a soft nature to it,
but that is well hidden by the rhythm of the song, which makes this the perfect
highlight.
FINAL RATING
8.5 (Out of 10)
Track List:
1.
|
Daddy
Wazza Roller
|
3:32
|
2.
|
Direction
|
4:50
|
3.
|
Karma
Wisdom
|
4:10
|
4.
|
Da
Wheel
|
3:40
|
5.
|
Nice to
Know
|
4:29
|
6.
|
Miles
'n' Miles
|
3:35
|
7.
|
Rollin'
|
3:57
|
8.
|
Wasted
|
3:41
|
9.
|
Held a
Rose
|
3:05
|
10.
|
West On
Train
|
4:48
|
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