here goes
Steve Schellenberg
Erie Bay Records
2000
8 tracks
Steve Schellenberg's playing is more than competent and his music wraps itself around the listener like a favourite cardigan on a winter day. Schellenberg includes an apology for his harp playing, but even that is competent and fits well in the songs where it shows up. This is a tastefully produced set with a well-balanced mix that provides the listener with a comfortable ambience in which to assimilate Schellenberg's words and ideas.
It's the words that set this release apart from the run of the mill. The writing here is literate, literary, and perhaps at times might even be considered intellectual in the higher academic sense. Some lyricists write simple songs. Some write colloquial stories like might be told on the back porch or around the kitchen table. Much of the time, the music takes precedence over and often subsumes the story. Most of the time, the story depends on how well the singer tells it and how willing the musician is to let it be heard. Schellenberg moves beyond that simple storyteller role and writes very compressed short stories enhanced by but not buried in the supporting music.
Each of the eight lyrics here is like a very brief literary short story, concisely told by a writer with an intuitive sense of how words and ideas should work together. It's a pleasure to read these lyrics as poetry without the music. There is a natural feel here that evokes some of the movements that created a new, more vernacular poetry some forty years ago all across North America. These lyrics bring the literary story to the street and the common touch to academic poetry.
Often, so called singer-songwriters excel in one area or the other. One may write great lyrics but not play or sing so well. Another may be only a passable player and write lyrics that just don't stand up on their own but be able to read anything with power and emotion that moves audiences. The one strength carries the rest. Not so Steve Schellenberg. On this release he plays guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and harmonica. His guitar work is excellent and the rest, even the harmonica, are played with professional competence. Assuming that Schellenberg also supervised the overall production, he demonstrates an excellent sense of balance and proportion, achieving an ideal intrumental mix that never detracts from the vocal.
There's a refreshing directness and honesty in Schellenberg's lyrics. Many writers of songs and stories will hide behind the generic and the universal, unwilling to expose just who is the Wizard behind their particular Oz. Elements in Schellenberg's writing make it clear that he is a Canadian and a Christian and that he has some very specific and personal ideas on love, politics, and life in general. To listen to these songs is to get to know Steve Schellenberg just a little better.
As a set, these eight songs have a unified, consistent feel that is rare in contemporary recordings by writer-performers. The set works very well as a whole, each song bringing something new to the whole. If I were to compare, I would say that Schellenberg's presentation falls somewhere between Eighties Paul Simon, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and The Loving Spoonful in their Nashville Cats mode. Supported by a comfortable instrumental bed, this quiet, compelling storytelling style provides the ideal setting for the pictures Schellenberg paints with his words.
I'm not going to discuss the individual songs here. Most times, I look at individual songs when there are certain differences among them that invite discussion. In this case, each song stands up well on its own and adds strength to the set over all. As a set, the songs are strong and at times very moving. What more could I possibly say about these songs individually?
Anyone interested in collecting the best of independent Canadian music should be sure to add this release to the shelf. Steve Schellenberg is a talented Canadian writer, instrumentalist, and singer who deserves to be recognized.
For more information on Winnipeg's Steve Schellenberg, you can check out his website.
|
|
|
|
Support Sound Bytes |
While you're here, please take the time to check out our sponsors below and on other pages.
Got a new or recent release you would like reviewed?
Click here 
for more information.
|
on Sound Bytes' Free-For-All Links page... Click Here.
Designed by The Communication Centre (R. D. MacKenzie Associates,
Kingston, Ontario K7K 6T9)
This web site, all pages, original content & images copyright © 1997-2004 R. D. MacKenzie.
Some web site functions developed and provided by Bravenet Web Services.
Review written: January 25, 2004
Page modified: January 25, 2004
Proudly Canadian
Send mail to the Sound Bytes Webmaster
if you have questions or comments about this web site.