Listen & Be Heard Weekly Archives

The cover for Tia Carroll?s self-titled CD is its own Da Vinci Code: intentional or not, it gives the first-time listener a clue regarding the music about to be heard. The cover is a double-exposed photograph of Ms. Carroll in the same pose, right hand holding a cordless microphone, in either mid-breath or in the midst of singing, with the right-side image slightly faded in relation to its twin. Two in one. It?s a code shot.

Carroll?s music on this CD begins with a cold shot, the ?Cold Shot? probably best known from Stevie Ray Vaughn?s version, and ends thirty-eight minutes later with her singing one of the staples of 1970s radio, ?If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don?t Want To Be Right).? The halfway point of the CD is Muddy Waters? classic ?Got My Mojo Workin?,? which has the same effect on her intended target as Muddy?s did on his: ?It just don?t work on you.? It worked on me, though.

The other three of the first five songs ? ?I Wanna Tell You,? ?Breakin? Up Somebody?s Home,? and ?Damn Your Eyes? ? are variations of the blues format, all upbeat songs featuring the guitar work of George von Giese. He features a clean elegance in his playing, similar to Eric Clapton during his ?Layla?-to-?Slowhand? period. Like Clapton, von Giese does not attempt to reinvent the blues wheel in these songs; instead, he plays the right notes at the right time. The story he tells may be familiar, but it is still a good story and he tells it well.

At this point, the listener has probably decided, ?OK, a blues CD,? singing along with the ?Hey! Hey! I feel alright!? section of ?I Wanna Tell You? and is expecting to hear more of the same. Carroll and the band abruptly change gears with the next song, ?Open Up The Barn Door.? The music shifts into rockin? mode (?We gonna have some fun to-NIGHT-uh!?) and follows with more of the same in ?Let Go,? ?Love Thing,? and ?Steamy Windows,? von Giese now playing with more bite, shredding through the chord changes. The band?s sound is now reminiscent of 1970s rock bands like Foreigner, ZZ Top, and Bad Company. ?Love Thing? even borrows from Foreigner?s ?Hot Blooded? for its main guitar riff. ?Let Go,? on the other hand, deserves to be part of any self-respecting garage band?s playlist. It burns.

Let us not forget, however, that this CD is Tia Carroll?s session. She BRINGS this music, whether in the emotional subtleties of ?If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don?t Want To Be Right)? or the scream-before-the-solo energy she brings to ?Love Thing.? These songs got more and more interesting with each listen; for me, the voice had a lot to do with it. Her voice is the band?s spider web, like the one on the CD?s back cover: listener, you?re not going anywhere…and this music is reason to stay…and don?t forget to pay attention to the great work by the rhythm section of Michael Harper on bass and Jorge Icabellis on drums…

A good mix is everything in a recording. Andre Rivers, who contributed in a big way to ?The New Jazz Swing? by Terence Elliott (recently reviewed in these pages), mixed and mastered this CD. The music sounds better with each listen.

For ordering and additional information, visit www.tiacarroll.com.