Larry Ludwick - Eastern River

Hear The Track Here

Seems like only yesterday since I first met Larry Ludwick when I reviewed Cold Heart Mountain (September 2008) but as you can see from the date, it really wasn't that long ago. Mind you, he's an active geezer is our Larry and not just musically. In the past two years Larry had proved himself invaluable to Soundclick's Critics Corner feeding frenzy forum, writing some cogent reviews and starting and finessing the monthly Critics Corner competition when - now anyway - you can even win a promo day courtesy of Soundclick. Don't think it a prize worth having? Take your track from #127654 to the top 20 in that day and - if you are lucky - you may even get a number one out of it. Check it out in the forum if the idea sounds interesting.

Regular readers will know that Larry has been having hearing difficulties and I'm not sure if this track is from before these troubles or not. Whatever, I'm sure we all wish him the very best. However, before we all get way too soft hearted, let's whip out this track and roast his nuts over a nice warm fire... Billed as New Age, Larry's passion for words takes it out of the usual tinkly, airy-fairy stuff that usually sends me screaming for the exit whenever I encounter the genre. Not that Eastern River is verbose, or even intellectually smart, but like a lot of Larry's work fit the soundtrack perfectly. All is not rosy though because I did have some problems with the song but that had nothing to do with what Larry was playing or doing, more in the more general sound of some of the instruments.

Now this I will put down to my own dislike of such sounds (the tinkly ones) but the semi-brass sounds (trumpet maybe?) absolutely did not work for me. There is a factory sound I became used to a few years ago, much to my anger, and this is way too close to that sound for my own comfort. Nonetheless, this is a personal dislike of the sound, what Larry does with it is not in dispute. In fact, I've become quite used to Larry's particular style over the past two years, especially lyrically and vocally and Eastern River is a great example of what Larry is all about - even if it had me twitching and barking at strangers but New Age always has that effect on me.

Recommended chill pill.