Tales From Sixth & Clinton
Gregg Cagno
http://saturn.med.nyu.edu/~sunshine/bigdork/hoboken/cagno.htm
Zesty Records
Box 541061
Orlando
Florida
email: zestyrec@aol.com
A review written for the Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange by
Moshe Benarroch (moben@internet-zahav.net)
How I missed those vinyl records this time... If this CD had two
sides I think I'd have worn the first side out in a week. The
first 5 songs out of the 10 in this disc are so strong that they
make you want to sing all day long and to tell your friends that
the world is wonderful until they tell you to shut up!
Cagnos' voice has been compared to James Taylor's. I didn't hear
Taylor's influence in his voice, rather I heard it in his
songwriting and guitar playing. I found his voice closer to
Stephen Bishop or Christopher Cross, sometimes to David Wilcox.
His is a very gentle voice. Cagnos' music is mostly acoustic
quiet songs, with two very rocking songs, which I didn't like
very much, on side two.
To this I must add my admiration for the violin of Carol Sharar (
who was featured also on Christian Bauman's CD). She has such
wonderful playing that in every song where she appears she seems
to make the song. Something like the signature sounds of Sneaky
Pete Klainbow or Lloyd Maines, so that whenever they appear in
a song you can't possibly think of that song played in another
way. Carol Sharar, remember that name.
"Junkyard's Reunion" bears a strong resemblance to Pete Nelson's
Norman. Cagno sings:
"I went shopping with my dad
It was the longest time we'd had
In quite a time, you see we don't talk that much
We don't call much, don't write
It's ok It's not like we fight."
It is beautiful quiet song in which you feel the relationship
between father and son and song.
"Mingus Died in Mexico" was co-written with Christian Bauman (they
are both part of Camp Hoboken). It is a beautiful song about the
jazz player Charles Mingus, and this version, although very
different from Bauman's (you couldn't imagine two more different
voices) is quite beautiful too:
"The water rips a steady line
Spiced tamales and skins of wine
On the gringo beach at siesta time
Staccato notes stacked in twos
Scratch the sky with Mitchell Blue
Sparkling sands that shift and grow
Mingus died in Mexico."
This is Cagno's second CD, and surely this is a very good one.
This is a man with a future.
Song List:
Mandolin Moon (Brody-Cagno)
Hollywood comes to Hoboken (Cagno)
Junkyard Reunion (Cagno)
Thunderstorms (The Florida Song) (Cagno)
The Grind (Cagno)
When I'm Dancing (Ginger) (Cagno)
Mingus Died in Mexico (Bauman- Cagno)
Ode to Mrs. Claus' Joy (Cagno)
Thank You Tune (Cagno)
Hoboken Lullaby (Cagno)
playing time: 45 minutes
edited by Kerry Dexter (riosur@aol.com)
Copyright 1998, Peterborough Folk Music Society. This review may
be reprinted with prior permission and attribution.
[Note from the Shameless Self Promotion Department: Gregg Cagno will
appear in an "In-The-Round" concert with Christian Bauman, Rachel
Bissex and Linda Sharar on Thursday, April 23, 1998, at 7:00pm, at
the 1st Madison Avenue Deli, 149 Emerald Street, Keene, NH.]
David N. Pyles | (802) 223-1473
Music Alive! | dnpyles@acousticmusic.com
322 Elm Street | http://www.acousticmusic.com/frames/
Montpelier, VT 05602 | http://www.acousticmusic.com/frames/fame.htm
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