Customer Reviews

The Here And The Now

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(32)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When I popped this into the CD player in my truck I was all smiles and bopping along to the wonderful beginning of the album, a very cool Jazzy R&B vibe, that unfortunately for me didn't hold all the way throughout.

The beautiful Ruby has vocals which work very well at the cool jazz genre' can't quite hold up under any kind of power. The middle of the album kind of melts into a Country Vibe, and Ruby comes off as Dolly Parton's weaker sister. In the future, I hope they play more to her strengths.

But.... Here's the deal.

What works well on this album really works well. For starters, the musicians playing on the album are amazing, really from start to finish, all the music is remarkable, especially the Cello, which I don't normally associate with pop music, but here it adds such an amazing richness, I was really pleased. Another thing is the songwriting; it is really very good, for instance "Chillin' with you" towards the end of the CD, is destined to be a popular theme song for a future movie or TV show, it is a pop master piece(at least to me).

So...

This is an album that starts out great and ends great with some less than great stuff in the middle, but overall it is an album I am happy to have, and I think you will be as well.

3 ½ *

You have to wonder whether Sam Brooker and Ruby Amanfu have a Tuck-and-Patti thing going on - they'd be a cute couple, and certainly are that at least musically. Unlike the jazzy Tuck and Patti, though, they work more in a country/pop framework, and they have sweet-as-honey voices that harmonize very well. Their songs, while sometimes simplistic and clichéd lyrically, are melodically polished and get their point across effectively, with their often bittersweet love themes. There aren't any real "standout" songs, though - I don't see any of them becoming a big radio hit. It's all very sincere and heartfelt, if not groundbreaking music, the kind you could play for your mom on Sunday morning. I don't mean to sound snarky, really - it's well-done, romantic, and easy on the ear, and we all need a bit of that once in a while.

Sam and Ruby have a great sound. If there was no Norah Jones or India Arie they would be big stars. A combination of pop, folk and R&B on their first CD, "Sam & Ruby: The Here and the Now." They are young and can still find their own way, and this is a great beginning.

Sam is from Wisconsin and Ruby is from Ghana. She plays a cello and Sam plays a fiddle. They met about ten years ago. Ruby came to the states with her family when she was small and they lived in Nashville. She went to Berklee School of Music in Boston but moved back to Nashville to find her musical voice. She and Sam seem to fit so well together. On some of their tunes it is difficult to know who is singing their voices blend so well together.

The twelve tunes are a mixed bag. My favorites are 'Sarah', a song about found letters and sung in a soft lazy manner. 'Heaven's My Home' is the tune that made it to the 'Bees' movie and is a contrast of both of their voices. 'The Here and The Now' the namesake of this CD. This is the one CD where it is difficult to know who is singing what. 'Chillin' is the one song that rocks. It is sung in the quiet mode of the pair. 'Ain't Love Somethin' is the last song on this CD and it is a fitting finish. it describes their relationship. This tune probably describes the entire CD- a love song.

Sam and Ruby are looking for a good stand, somewhere they can play their tunes, a place to go.
This CD might open some doors, but it is not the CD that will make their careers. They have a lot to say, and they are on their way to finding their own song. I look forward to hearing many more CDs.

Recommended. prisrob 08-25-09

Sam & Ruby

Smoke and Honey

If I were a friend of Sam and Ruby's and saw them in a club, I'd probably like them well enough to think, "These guys are good, they should have a recording contract." But then I'd also probably be under the influence of a beer buzz. In the sober light of day, their music -- while certainly accomplished -- isn't particularly distinctive. The melodies are often simple (sometimes simplistic), the lyrics undistinguished...when they're not downright cringeworthy. "I need more than a casual dating life" has to be one of the clunkiest lines I've heard in a long time (there has to be a more poetic and/or simpler way of expressing the thought); and in "The Suitcase Song" (a song narrated by...well, a suitcase), the lyric "I'll carry on," while meant to be clever, just lands with a precious thud. Sam & Ruby sing just fine: he's a Teddy Geiger/Adam Levine blend, she's Norah Jones meets Corinne Bailey Rae -- but come on, I'd much rather listen to any one of them any day of the week.

Ultimately stultifying and bland, "The Here and Now" is unlikely to establish Sam and Ruby now and forever.

Amazon categorizes this CD as "Pop" but really it's a mixture of Norah Jones productions with a young Reba McEntire impersonator on vocals. Which, generally speaking, sounds like something that would be right up my alley. And the first two tracks are. "What Do I Do Now?" and "This I Know" are two brilliantly sung and expertly delivered tracks that I enjoyed very much. They have a breathy country air to them behind soft beats that soothe the body into a peaceful place.

Unfortunately after that the tracks turn so bland that your mind tunes them out like the constant hum of the air conditioner. "Need Me Less" is beyond boring, while the title track "The Here and the Now" is the highlight of the worst songs, with an everywhere production and vocals that never quite make the right pitch.

Save your money, buy Tracks 1 and 2 from the mp3 store but don't bother with the whole CD.

After listening to Sam & Ruby's "The Here and the Now" I have to say that it was just okay. It's easy listening, a mix between country, folk with a dash of acoustics. It's coffee shop music; very light, background music that isn't very distracting but isn't very distinctive, either. With so many artist today relying too much on special effects like auto tune and synthesizers and other tricks to spice up their music, it was nice not hear that on 'The Here and the Now'.

The Good: I enjoyed the simplicity of the music. The instrumentals are simple guitars, piano and some strings, making the entire release a rather laid-back, easy going, good vibes release. Sam and Ruby's voices do not sound as if they've been overly processed, giving the music a more authentic feeling.

The Bad: All of the tracks have the same sound. To me, it made everything blur together and no one track stood out amongst the others. It made the release just okay for me. In this case, I think some experimentation with styles could have benefited the release because in the end, I felt as if I was listening to the same song, simply re-worked and re-tweaked and placed to a slightly different musical track. This made the listening experience drawn out and a bit dull.

In all, it's okay, but I don't see any track on this releasing making this group a big hit. If you're looking for laid-back, easy listening music, this will suit your needs. Otherwise, I'd pass it by.

Tracks To Listen To: 'Too Much', 'The Suitcase Song', 'More'

I enjoy parts of this album and dislike others - not so much for the performances but for the songwriting. I really didn't like the middle five songs at all, but the first three and last three were quite enjoyable. I give it 3.5 stars.

Sam and Ruby have lovely well-matched singing voices and they sing with nice harmonies. I enjoy listening to them, but not to all the songs on this album. The ones I don't enjoy are not because the performances are not good, but because I don't care for the songs themselves. All the songs on this album are written either by Sam and Ruby together, Sam or Ruby alone, or (in a couple cases) by one of them and another person. Overall I think this is a talented singing duo that might benefit from adding in songs written by others.

The first 3 tracks, "What Do I Do Now," "This I Know," and "Too Much" are nice, happy "falling in love"-type songs. I enjoy each of them. Track 4 "Sarah" starts a depressing "love gone wrong" series that takes up too much of the CD. The music is a little incongruously peppy for a song where the narrator has to tell a friend her married lover is going back to his wife. Track 5, "More" (about realizing you need more than the other person can give) is sad. Although depressing, it has lovely harmonies. Tracks 6-8, "Suitcase," "Won't Let You Go," and "Need Me Less" are all too depressing for me. They might be better with a strong blues vibe than for a folk duo. "Heaven's My Home" doesn't fit in with the overall love theme but is a nice transition from the preceding darker songs. "The Here and the Now" is about giving love another chance; "Chillin" and "Ain't Love Somethin'" end the album on a happy note again.

I enjoy the first three tracks and the last three tracks and the best way for me to enjoy them is to put them on my MP3 player without the middle tracks I don't like at all. In addition to not liking the middle part of the CD, I think the song-writing would benefit from more variety in tone, tempo and key. After awhile it started to sound too much alike. But I do hope this duo gets another album and that they bring in some songs written by others.

I really can't think of a better way to describe this CD than to say It just makes me feel good! I had never even heard of Sam and Ruby before sampling this CD and I became an instant fan. One can tell that Sam and Ruby are performing from the heart. There are no pretenses here which is what makes it so refreshing. Take a minute to listen to the previews and let your own ears be the judge. For me, I can't wait for their next release.

Sam and Ruby's "The Here and Now" is a generic folk-pop album, complete with r&b and bluegrass influences. While there's nothing to critique per se, there's nothing really to recommend, either. This is a pleasant, easy-to-listen album that is as enjoyable while spinning as it is forgettable when done.

Why I have a problem with this disc:
Real romance is sometimes sad but it is also funny and ironic. The latter two factors are entirely missing from any of the fare here.
The vocals here provided by Ruby Amanfu are not bad, but she works in one note. She sounds eloquently unhappy with moments of sentimental joy. Sam Brooker, the man providing what should be a melding of vocals, lacks a distinctive note. He sounds too much like he's stepping into her footsteps. This succeeds as a melodic paring of styles but also denies him of memorable voice. Neither of these vocalists, skilled as they may seem, offers anything with any meat. It simply a stylized, harmonious parity. They CAN sing. They just have nothing to sing about. They could do much better by only harmonizing when the need too.
Sam needs to stop sounding like a second string lothario trying to aim for the heart. Even as a cad or a broken man finding his way again would give him some range and hopefully add some timber to his vocals. Ruby needs to quit sounding like a naive woman channeling school girl angst and expectation and show us the real pain of heartbreak and power of love as a triumph of the spirit. And the musical arrangements need to lose the dreamlike quality and grow some teeth.
My opinion is that this disc is likely to appeal only to young girls who know nothing about relationships or older women in bad one's hoping impossibly for better ones.
This disc easily fades into the background with the rest of the pop clutter that passes for well produced sweetness.
It could only be worse if it affected anger with the same lack of sincerity.
I'm not down on schmaltz. I'm a sucker for more often than I care to admit. But, the artist has to fool me by sounding sincere, or actually be sincere.
This does not happen on any of the songs sampled here.