JoyRide
Terry Quiett
S3 Records
2001
12 tracks
JoyRide is Terry Quiett's fourth album release yet it incorporates problems I would usually hear only in the work of less experienced writers and performers. There is clearly talent here, but it still needs growth and development. Throughout this release, it feels as though Quiett has not yet decided who or what he wants to be as an artist and may be making some poor choices as a result.
The biggest problem I have with this release has to do with production, or rather over-production. I don't usually worry a lot about production values. I don't mind if a recording sounds a bit raw and, in fact, sometimes prefer that sound. However, sometimes an artist can obscure his own talent through excessive or incorrect use of the technologies available to him. I believe that this is what's happening here.
Most of the songs on this release are over-produced, with way too much stuff going on at one time. It's not just that the arrangements are too busy but that the sound is blunted by technology. Most of the time, the instrumental backing sounds over-modulated, sometimes quite a lot so. The overall sound seems to have way too much bottom end, as though meant to boom through the walls of a bolt-on customized Honda on some city street (although without the requisite pounding rhythm). At times, there also seems to have been too much EQ applied, weakening the overall power of these songs.
The vocals suffer from some similar production-related problems. Often, Quiett's voice has a blurry, muffled quality as though he had been singing too close to the microphone. This does not just obscure his voice but often the words he is singing. As well, many times his vocals are too low in the mix and are overshadowed by the too-busy instrumentals running behind him.
Quiett's vocals especially suggest that he's not yet discovered his own voice. On different songs, his vocal style ranges through a gamut of artists who may have influenced him. On this release a listener can hear the nasal gravel-voiced sound of Neil Diamond, the controlled shout affected by Elton John when he does rock and roll, the story-telling style of Meat Loaf, the sweet schmaltz of Michael Martin Murphey or Gary Wright, and intimations of several other voices. Quiett may not truly come into his own as an artist until he reveals himself by dropping these masks.
The songs on this release also seem to reflect Quiett's influences as much as anything original he may be contributing. Although Quiett has written all of these songs, the sound is strongly reminiscent of a variety of hits from the late Seventies and early Eighties. (For example, Quiett's "Trying To Get Mine" sounds ever so much like The Eagles' hit, "Take it to the Limit" from 1975.) The effect is to make this set sound very dated, if not actually outdated.
While Quiett's lyrics demonstrate that he has some ability, like his music they also show a certain amount of immaturity as a writer. While there are interesting themes and some tight writing throughout, there are also too many instances where the writing is just heavy-handed and awkward. The hand of a good editor is indicated. A writer who can let a clunky line like "History is a madman whose speech is circling this carcass called denial" slip by should perhaps spend a bit more time polishing his craft.
None of these weaknesses is a big problem on its own, and each of them has a fairly easy fix. However, in combination, they tend to obscure what seems to be real talent attempting to shine through the clutter of pretentious writing and over-production. I'd like to see what this artist could do if he took more time to polish his workmanlike but so far unexceptional lyrics then recorded his songs with less instrumentation and fewer production gimmicks. The result might be quite impressive indeed.
Learn more about this Kansas singer-songwriter and his music at the Terry Quiett website. You'll also find complete lyrics plus clips of four of the songs on JoyRide here.
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Review written: March 13, 2005
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