Cam's Even Song - Face the Music (The Ballad of 4 Lepers)

Hear The Track Here

Cameron Bastedo (AKA Cam/Cams Even Song/and even Captain for reviews) has long been a pillar of the soundclick community - well what community there is anyway. Ooops, sorry, note of bitterness crept in there. Seriously, to my mind, Cam (in whatever guise) is an artist who deserves to be noted on a much wider level than at present. First of all he has spent years perfecting what he does and when you hear a track of his, it's instantly recognisable - couldn't be anyone else. As well as being an adept musician/producer, he is also unafraid to tackle subjects in his lyrics that other people would run a mile from. A song with a message, they would shudder, what would we do with such a thing?

Face The Music is a song based on a Biblical story, hence the Four lepers and the track finds Cam in his best Bob Dylan circa Blood On The Tracks mode, an area I like very much when Cam stands up to it. I first caught an inkling of this side to Cam's work when I heard his Dylan flavoured Just The Truth On Christmas at the end of last year. He's always been - in my eyes - a talented and prolific songwriter but when he marries a style like this with a truly great lyric, it's nothing short of breathtaking. I make a lot of noise about the Dylan influence because I just bet that it'll be the first thing that will pop into your mind first. I don't, for one second, think that Cam is conciously trying for the resemblence, it's just the way his own style has developed.

Speaking of development, Face The Music, is a masterclass in how to construct a meaningful, pointed peice of music that speaks to head and heart in equal manner. While it is true to say that I have become a big Cam fan over the last couple of years, I'm still realistic enough to know whether my friendship is colouring my thoughts about what he's doing right, or wrong. Fact of the matter is, I couldn't find anything whatsoever in this track that I would want to change or have done in any other way. This is a pleasure, in every way, to hear and savour and shows that Cam continues to make huge strides in his production methods because there is nothing of the home recorded syndrome about this highly polished, extremely professional track. Now, if YOU think my friendship with Cam is colouring my judgement, I'd ask that you give this track a listen and then come and argue the point with me, I'd be glad to number the ways...

MUST HAVE (song, content, performance, all outstanding)