Customer Reviews

Heart Of The Valley

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Hi I've been hitting the replay on this cd since it has arrived. I knew at the first mention of Gerry Beckley (America) and Jeff Larson getting together and putting together this new cd, that it was going to be a Magical Masterpiece for sure. Getting to hear these songs in their entirety was like spending comfortable time with a friend. It is very hard for me to pick a favorite on this set of songs. Each and everyone of them have a unique well rounded blend of Gerry & Jeff and a touch of new magic. The lead song Heart of the Valley is full of rich acoustics and smooth piano accompanyment, add from the heart harmonizing vocals and lyrics, and this completes this sincere gem. This song settles in your bones quickly and you will find yourself humming along with the haunting outro inspired by Neil Finn (Crowded House) and brought to life nicely vocally by Jeff Foskett. I can hear a nice hint of Timothy B Schmit in Jeff's vocals on this song. Sudden Soldier captures me right from the get go, once again we are treated to a well blended rich acoustics, drums, and keyboard wizardry. I love, Jeff & Gerry's vocals, harmonizing and the way this song climaxes in a rocking way. Matt Beckley's touch of magic producing this is right on. The right back at you magic that is going on between Gerry & Jeff will carry you on to each song and will have you wanting more. Airport Smiles is a gentle blurr, even though it is short, it is packed full of the heartfelt magic between Gerry & Jeff, Jeff's neat added Airport clip sets the setting nicely. Minus Marci is a shinning, toe tapping gem, this song needs to find it's place in a movie soundtrack or tv show. It would make a real nice live show, jammin treat as well. Calling is filled with Gerry's sentimental ballad side, as well as his love for orchestrated backing, I also love how Jeff's vocals bring this sentimental gem to a nice visual blurr. I love how the trombone and euphonium add a soft sensual blurr to complete this in a much appreciated way. Ryland Steele (was in Matt Beckley's group TEA) adds his drum style to round it off in a new way. I also love the way the acoustics and piano play back and forth to each other in the middle bridge of this song. Next up is One Way Ticket and this song has won me completely, I love the freshness of it. I love knowing that Gerry's son Matt Beckley added his magical touch in producing this new rockin gem. This song has it all, rich, rocking acoustics, harmonizing that takes you a level higher and I have no problem hitting the replay on this song. I would have loved to be in the recording studio watching this gem unfold. Jeff shines brightly on Five Mile Road, his way with fitting his vocals to each song is very evident on this song, it gives that hauntingly mesmorizing blurr, that I sooo love to hear in Jeff's songs. Rusty Young of Poco adds a nice touch with the steel guitar. Southern Girl shines every sooo brightly, Jeff's bluegrass, country edge side is accompanied nicely by Dewey Bunnell's (America), you will love humming along with the harmonizing vocals and rustic acoustics. It is sooo easy to hear all the heartfelt collaboration going on in these songs. Jeff's way with Two People at Once captures you in a heartbeat. Simply Jeff and Gerry shining their softest sentimental sides. The lyrics in this capture my curiousity. I simply love this song. The harmonizing part in this song carries you back to the early days of the Beach Boys sound and makes you wish you could turn time back and be a part of that time era once more. Wishing Well is filled with the magic that I have always loved about Gerry's way with lyrics, as well as Jeff's individual lyric and vocal style. I feel that they have connected 100 percent on this song. One Lit Window is the perfect magic to end this new cd. The softness of this song spells out the collaborated magic that has become realization in the completion of this Gerry \ Jeff Heart of the Valley cd. Thanks Gerry for the new gems,it's always a pleasure to be treated to your Kiss of Life way with your love for music. It's nice knowing that Gerry & Jeff wrote 2 of the songs together on this cd, Minus Marci, and One Lit Window. I have been a long time fan of America's,Gerry Beckley's solo works, as well as Jeff Larson's works, and I will always look forward to new cds coming our way. Congratulations to Gerry, Jeff and Hank Linderman, Matt Beckley, and all that are a part of this new gem. I gladly recommend this cd to all! My Life Highway is sooo much richer because of having this music to accompany my days and nights. Shine On Jeff & Gerry!

I've kept this cd in my player for the past month and have been listening daily to all the tracks. Incredible cd from start to finish. I've always felt that Beckley and Larson's musical style would blend perfectly and so I was delighted to see that they collaborated on this CD. Another reviewer has already given a breakdown of each song, so I won't do that, other than to say that my fav song is probably Minus Marci -- but there are 4 or 5 absolute gems on this cd. Two People at Once reminds me a little bit of Gerry's Inspector Mills in that it's a ballad/story type song. I'd like to comment on how strong the recording and production is on this album. Sometimes independent labels have recordings which are sub par -- especially compared to the recordings that are done on major labels, but this CD sounds great -- whatever studio was used was top notch and is better in my opinion (from the recording standpoint) than Larson's previous cd's. Keep this CD in your vehicle for a while and you'll end up loving every song on the cd. I'm already hoping that these two guys have several more CD's planned!

OK. In my opinion, this is far and away the greatest CD Jeff has ever released. Gerry Beckley has done miracles for Jeff's range of materials. What a team! To be honest, Gerry's songs, which he wrote most of on this CD, are superior to any songs that Jeff has released (and I have all of his CDs). That's not a slam at Jeff. It's just that Gerry has been around a LOT longer and has such a library of songs to choose from. Jeff's voice has never sounded stronger on this CD. Bottom line? The best Jeff has released to date, and hopefully, he and Gerry will collaborate again. "Two People at Once" had me believing that it was Gerry singing vocal and not Jeff. Their vocals are so much alike.There is nothing wrong with singing songs that some other artist wrote, Jeff. Especially if the songs were written by the leader of America (the band, not the country. LOL).

This album is full of hook filled mellow songs tastefully arranged.
Overall the majority of instrumentation is done by Gerry Beckley, so much of the overall sound is the polished west coast soft rock of America and Beckley's solo work. Jeff Larson's fine acoustic guitar work is missing from this work, as he only plays grand piano. The listener will have to be content with Beckley and others on guitars.

Heart Of The Valley - Gerry Beckley ballad, America harmonies with a Beach Boys Outro (Jeff Foskett). Laid back & breezy.

Sudden Soldier - Gerry Beckley rocker, America harmonies. Could be a contemporary "Sister Golden Hair".

Airport Smiles - Jeff Larson ballad just over one minute.

Minus Marci - Jeff Larson upbeat pop rock gem, sounds very much like Beckley's "Emma" off his Van Go Gan CD but with a touch of Eagles (is that Hank?). Possibly the best cut of the project.

Calling - Gerry Beckley ballad featuring piano and George Martin like instrumentation, lovely lead, harmonies and background vocals. As nice a ballad as Beckley ever wrote with America.

One Way Ticket - Gerry Beckley upbeat pop song. Sounds like early Jackson Browne with "The Section", Andrew Gold and America in a blender. A contender with Minus Marci for best cut.

Five Mile Road - Gerry Beckley ballad with an early Eagles and Poco (Rusty Young) sound. Haunting and sad, rainy night music.

Southern Girl - Gerry Beckley ballad with an Eagles "Peaceful Easy Feeling" sound.

Two People At Once - Gerry Beckley ballad. This is where soft rock meets jazz. Remember smooth jazz stations? This would be a crossover song like Gerry's "Sunrise Sunset" quiet version. Hank's E-bow guitar choir and the vocals on the last minute of this song bring one to tears they are so beautiful. A special song.

Wishing Well - Gerry Beckley ballad. Very much an America sound but with fuller vocals, more of a Beach Boys vocal arrangement. Did Jeffrey Foskett have a hand in this tune or just his spirit? Very nice song.

One Lit Window - Jeff Larson ballad. Sparse but tasteful arrangement, could have been a Stephen Bishop tune back in the 70's. Nice way to close the album.

A different approach from Jeff's albums with Hank Linderman. Hank's productions are based on the philosophy of bringing out the best of the artist through the consummate west coast sound he is a part of creating.

Gerry is a different kind of producer, and since the majority of the songs are Beckley's, it's more a matter of shaping the artist into something else, something the producer dreams of creating. Gerry takes more chances with orchestration and a variety of styles, from california country rock, folk rock, Beatles orchestral, solo piano style, harder edged melodic rock, beach pop...it's pretty amazing and serious stuff.

I'll be brief - for a fuller review please go to amazon.co.uk.

Imagine - in a parallel universe, David, Stephen and Graham blanked Neil and instead he turned for fellowship to a prematurely Peekless America to form Beckley, Bunnell & Young.

Neil is subdued by Gerry and Dewey (hey, these guys are just too nice to mess with!) and the result is a Neil for once compliant and subordinate.

Under Gerry's direction, Neil ditches angst in favour of a lighter melancholy and sounds somehow more rounded, while Gerry, too, sounds less mannered and more, well, like Neil!

Southern Man loses its venom and changes gender to a cutesy Southern Girl, which certainly requires no riposte from any latter day Skynyrd, but is nevertheless just irresistible.

Oh how wonderful that other reality could have been - Neil never depressed and CSN never complicated.

Intentional or not, this is a wonderful conceit by Gerry Beckley with the aid of the formidable larynx of Jeff Larson. It never flags and makes you smile from first to last. Just to think how it could have been!

Well, as an avid fan of America as well as Jeff Larson, I must admit that this album sounds a lot like a follow up to Horizontal Fall. I first heard Jeff with Left of a Dream and I took an instantaneous liking to this artist and I knew I had to get more ... Evocative of America, Dan Fogelberg and even Glen Frey from his eagles days, this was a hark back to the good old 70s ... After acquiring his earlier works right from the memorable Fragile Sunrise to the raw sound of Swimming in the make believe, I was expecting Jeff to better his Left of a Dream with Heart of the Valley, (especially after reading Nancy's review). While LOAD album rates as amongst Jeff's finest works - every song a masterpiece, sadly, with Gerry's production (from Human Nature Records)it appears that Larson sounds too much like Gerry rather than his old self except on Aiport Smiles (the only song he's written and produced on the album). Therein lies the problem !!
After a thoughtful opening with the title song Jeff sounds too much like Gerry, sounding exactly like him in Minus Marci, Callin' and Two people at once ... Not that its a bad thing but then this is not Jeff ...
The versatility that is otherwise visible in all of Jeff's works is missing here, in fact I can't help thinking of the irony in the lyrics of Two people at once - sounds like a message there...
Nevertheless, as a Gerry Beckley fan I do like this album although I think Gerry needs to reinvent a little - displaying his creative spark of the past with his memorable tunes (like in some new songs on Here & Now) rather than dish out prosaic stuff

This really is a great new CD from Jeff Larson. Every song will grow on you with each listen. Most of the songs were written by Gerry Beckley(AMERICA)who also plays on all tracks. Dewey Bunnell(AMERICA)sings backing vocals on "Southern Girl", and Rusty Young (POCO) plays slide guitar on "Five Mile Road". Other outstanding tracks include "Two People At Once", "Wishing Well", "One Way Ticket", and "One Lit Window". But in all honesty, every track is worth a repeated listen.