Pete Berwick has been plugging away at the Nashville country music establishment for a number of years now, tragically too hard a rocker for their delicate sensibilities, too country to fit into any alternative rock straightjacket. He just keeps writing songs, though, good ones, too, full of heart and soul and fire.
Hell To Pay slaps a handful of these tunes onto one demo tape that, if anyone in the industry had any ears (or balls) would get Berwick the major league try-out that he deserves. I’d be willing to bet that he’d hit it out of the park on the first swing, with cuts like the jaunty “Hell To Pay” or the striking “I Ain’t Him” good for at least an extra-base hit.
The brilliantly wicked “Rebels and Cadillacs” pisses on the entire entertainment biz with a few choice verses while “Vacancy In My Heart” is a spirited, rollicking recounting of love lost. Berwick’s material bristles with attitude and passion; stick him in a studio with a sympathetic producer and watch the ol’ boy kick the shit out of not only those Music Row cowboy wanna-bes but all those faeux punk rockers, as well. In a music world mostly comprised of watered down whiskey, Berwick is the 200 proof real thing. (Shotgun Records, 1995)
Review originally published by R.A.D! Review and Discussion of Rock & Roll zine, 1995
No comments:
Post a Comment