Getting into some “Trouble,” by Charlie C., is a Good Thing
R. Leckey Harrison
Posted On October 22, 2013
If you have a tight budget and non-session players, you need to sound at least this good. This first CD by Charlie C startsright out of the gate with a rollicking title track, “Trouble,” which implicitly says, “Oh yea? Here’s what I got!” It sets the bluesy show tune groove that makes this CD worth having.
So let’s get the playing out of the way: it’s good. For non-session players, they were solid. The engineering is fairly tight (Matt Erich, engineer), with production from Ross du Clair.
The groove itself on this CD? Think of a musical meets the blues. Songs like “I Feel You” and “Melt My Butter” start out musical before they surrender to their blues root. Yea, “Melt My Butter,” with Charlie singing “you gotta be smoking…you gotta be hot enough, to melt my butter,” conjures visions of a choreographed video so fast it can’t help but lend the notion of a musical. Can you see the loping dance down the street with “Cat Call?” That fits in with Charlie’s musical heritage, where her mom sang and danced on stage as patrons tossed money on the stage.
That isn’t all, though. A great Delbert McClinton feel, a bit Cajuney on “You Must Know,” with a killer organ line. Honestly, it sounds like an accordion in some places! There’s a nice Santana like rolling jazz on “A Thorn in My Heart,” where Charlie begs, “Please don’t leave, please don’t leave…don’t leave this thorn in my heart,” and a great pop rock groove on “A Love Like That,” with a mixed vocal line that fades in as a lead solo fades out, and some tasty vocal backdrops. “Fingers Crossed” is a great rocker, it has a great driving beat and a guitar part that could be altered to give it more room in a live setting. The gem may well be “I Feel You,” which is just Charlie and a piano. It captures the CD personality excellently.
One of the great parts of this CD is that it is all original, and despite its minor issues, I still recommend it. Originality is a claim that many cannot make. All the songs, the lyrics, and she even produced it. So all those styles, the melodies, the blues root, all of that came from within. If you’re looking for musical Trouble, look no further than this CD by Charlie C.
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