Album Review by EDF
Some people wear their hearts on a sleeve. With Jim Barbaro who hails from Saugerties, New York, his is governed by RPM; Romance, Passion and Melody. To accompany this, he is aided by some reliable musicians and a host of instruments showcased such as Hawaiian guitar, trumpets, cellos and fiddles that are spread throughout this album. The styles featured within switch from bluesy rock, melancholic ballads and up-tempo acoustic rock.
The songs are soulful and bear a more than honest touch of reality covering topics such as ageing movie stars, I’VE SEEN THE STARS FALL, which is accompanied by a mournful trumpet solo and tales of lost love, SKETCHES IN THE SAND. The rockabilly HOUSE OF LOVE is a parting of ways tale as both characters “divide this house of love”. The passionate Spanish-flavoured ROSE BOLERO is a love song where the dancer just wants to feel the fire of his Rose Bolero.
It is obvious from listening to this album that Barbaro is, without doubt, a very good guitar player and lyricist. As an independent artist, Barbaro can escape the pigeonholing of genres major recording artists have to go through. Due to this, the major labels loss is the listener’s gain. On top of that, this is one of the nicest packaged CD’s I’ve come across in a while.
