Customer Reviews

Back to Even

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When you listen to Bill Lloyd's Back To Even album you ask yourself; :"who's this guy writing about, him or me?" It's that close and that good. The title track says he's traveled one end of the musical and emotional spectrum to the other and has survived to write one track after another that reaches into the head and heart. Listening to this album has you playing the old flower game of "she loves me-she loves me not" and then resolving it with the playful Kissed Your Sister. The overall sound is tight and Lloyd constantly finds that one little element that makes a song stick in your head. Hearing the crying pedal steel guitar of Rusty Young on Story I Can't Tell makes the song more than just a baleful ballad of love lost. This record is track after track of pop and circumstance. Chiming guitars, tight harmonies, not to mention little side trips back to the 60's and 70's that are the hallmarks of a Bill Lloyd musical expedition. When you've heard all the tracks you have to say, "Bill, we know a lot about each other." It also happens to be a great tribute to a very classy songwriter.

This album is for all of us who love the strumming, purring and jangling of 12-string guitars. Slick production, shimmering guitars and catchy melodies abound. Lloyd's weakness, his voice, is less noticeable on this album than on others, and the songs are almost uniformly strong. There are a couple that I sometimes skip past, but out of 14 real songs, that's not bad. Recommend for guitar pop fans.

I'm from the 60's generation and I love the music from that era and in particular the British Invasion. Many of these songs are reminiscent of that music. If you like the music of the Byrds, you will like this music. But Bill Lloyd's voice is underwhelming. That isn't a condemnation of this CD by a longshot. Many performers lack a strong voice. Not everyone out there is Bocelli or even Radney Foster (his ex partner)for that matter. But, you may want to know going in that the music tends to overpower Lloyd's voice.

Knowing that, the music here is very good, even on the first listen. Songs like the title track, "Back To Even", "Almost Taken", and "For The Longest Time" will not just bring you back in time but stand on their own as beautiful music. Guitars rule and there is a layered jingle jangle sound that transcends the decades. After a few listens these songs will run around your brain and put a smile on your face.

There are only a couple of songs that seem out of place on this CD but there is enough here for you to risk your money and please your ears.

Bill Lloyd has been making excellent pop ever since the early 80's, first with his bands Sgt. Arms and then Practical Stylists. He then was billed as Bill Lloyd And The December Boys. No matter with whom and what Bill is playing, you can always tell that it's a Bill Lloyd song. That means, a great, well played song with wonderful harmonies and stunning guitarplay. "Back To Even" is one of Bill's strongest efforts to date, and if you like great pop, you definitely should check it out.

If you like the jangle of an electric 12 string guitar ala the Byrds, Beatles, Matthew Sweet, Myracle Brah and other Power Pop groups, you'll like this one by Mr. Lloyd!