Eileen Rose – Insanitia
While the melody on the opening tune “Dusty Bones” will resonate with rock aficionados because of the vintage Bruce Springsteen posture, Boston-native Eileen Rose certainly owns it with her aggressively melodic, firm grip on the performance. Part Patti Smith, & Patti Scialfa with lots of Chrissie Hynde. Wonderfully persistent & strong with a stirring lead guitar. Eileen doesn’t lose her grip either when she flows into a cover of Los Lobos’ “Will the Wolf Survive,” that’s done with finesse & nice percussive additives if not a sweet accordion (Joel Guzman). The album has a surplus of engaging tunes in a formalized sound. This is a well-produced album.
There are 12 dips into Eileen Rose’s Insanitia (Drops April 24/New Shot Records/53:06) produced by Andrea Parodi, Rich Gilbert & Eileen that were all recorded in Meda, Italy, where melodies blow freely in the breeze. “From Away” is a slide into balladry & Ms. Rose is skillful here as well. She paces her showcase nicely with classic rock, original stretches & moving balladry. With the ballad, Eileen’s arrangement includes warm harmonica (Charlie McCoy, who played with Bob Dylan) & banjo (Rich Gilbert).
Muscle? “The Blonde Lady of the Cherry Tree,” & “Daydream Fail” ignite like a Francesca Chiara song (“Edera,” “Strano Mondo” & “Ti Amo Che Strano”) & the majority of the Italian musicians are as tight as pepper in prosciutto. They maintain the same distinguished style as Chiara’s musicians. Eileen Rose is superb throughout & the arrangements smoke. Nothing here was left to chance.
John Prine’s “Storm Windows” comes loaded with clever instrumentation, Charlie McCoy’s harmonica & Probyn Gregory’s French horn make the piece shine. With more of a Spanish flavor is “River of Lonely,” which features the haunting violin of Scarlet Rivera (another Dylan alumnus) that paints some bold colors throughout this music. The dual acoustic guitars of Luca Pirozzi & Luca Giacomelli & the brass are absolutely splendid. Ms. Rose really asserts herself with a fine band that’s as good as a summer glass of Chianti with a quartered peach tossed in & gorgonzola on hard bread. Saluti! You can taste their musical skill in every song. This album should not be missed.
Ms. Rose’s final song is sung in Italian & it’s a rousing, terrific number (“Ma Che Freddo Fa”) = “It’s So Cold.”
Highlights – “Dusty Bones,” “Will the Wolf Survive,” “From Away,” “The Blonde Lady of the Cherry Tree,” “Storm Windows,” “Daydream Fail,” “River of Lonely,” “Lockdown,” & “Ma Che Freddo Fa.”
Musicians – Eileen (vocals/guitar/horn arrangements), Chris Maclachlan (bass), Rich Gilbert (guitars/pedal steel/banjo/mandolin/string arrangements), Massimiliano Malavasi (drums), Riccardo Maccabruni (organ/accordion/piano), Bobo Rondelli & Andrea Parodi (vocals), Texas-fiddle player Carrie Rodriguez, Paolo Ercoli (dobro), Woody Parodi (Rhodes), Raffaele Kohler (trumpet), Luciano Macchina (trombone), Mark Sams (guitar), Clara Zucchetti (vibraphone), Raffaele Toninelli (upright bass) & Emmanuele Pelligrini (drums/whistle on “’ Til The Wheels Come Off”).
CD cover image courtesy of Rich Gilbert. CD@ Amazon + https://www.eileenrose.com/