Sunday, February 12, 2006

Steve Gilmore Reviews: Cam's Evensong - Waiting For The Lady

Artist: Cam
Title: Waiting On The Lady

Cam has been one of my favourite Soundclick artists for a while now, mainly because he always delivers tracks that are well crafted, excellently performed (albeit in a home recorded environment)and - more than anything else - SONGS that have a clear structure and point. I've always been a sucker for a good song, and over the past few months Cam has provided some very, very good examples of his art; an ever changing kalidoscope that ranges from the Beatle-ish to his more Bob Dylan inspired later material. For example I heard Just the Truth - On Christmas around a month or so ago and it's Dylan tone and energy absolutely blew me away and instantly transferred itself to my keeper file.

Cam also has a very indentifiable sound, from his vocals mainly but also in the way he handles the musical side of things. To be sure there is a decided American feel to his music (even though he is Canadian) but that doesn't detract from the power of his music, merely localises it. There is a great deal of rubbish written in Europe about how set in its ways American music is, but I don't think that. Judging by Cam's output (and his fellow musicians), it's alive and well and in the rudest of health on the internet. The amount of Cam tracks that have found their way onto my hard drive is an indication of that because although I like a lot of tracks on Soundclick there are very few that I actually keep. I've reviewed lots of Cam's stuff and although I don't like particularly his lighter side, I do like the times when he is dealing with tough subjects because that's where his real talent comes to the surface - as a talented, thoughtful and often intense lyricist.

Waiting On The Lady is based around a theme many of us will be extraordinarily familiar with; namely waiting for our significant others to get ready to do whatever it is we are waiting for them to do (go to dinner/party/movies/etc) Why is that? I think that is a question that has reverberated down the ages with no significant changes from one generation to the next, and STILL no answer in sight. Unfortunately. to my ears, Waiting... is more of the lighter side of Cam's work and not really to my taste although lyrically it couldn't be more spot on. Take, for example, the first four lines: I’ve been waiting on the lady, I’ve been waiting too long. I’ve had time to write a novel, let alone to write a song! Pure Cam through and through. Even though I found the tune pretty lightweight I'm sure that the many Cam fans will find lots to approve of in this extremely likeable track. I'll just content myself with his back catalog until the next hummer comes along from this very talented songwriter.

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