Customer Reviews

Kitchen Radio

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

 

 

Another winner. This one so-far strikes me as a fairly balanced album with Shirt and Sad, Sad, Sad, Sad being my favorites here. I was happy to see my concert favorite, Road to Mallow, starting things off. Me & Albert is a straight up brooding tune that would be at home in Greg Brown's canon.

Definitely recommended. Fans of newbies Damien Rice and Alexi Murdoch, or even of Death Cab for Cutie, Jason Mraz or Howie Day would do well to check out some truly fine tunes from Peter Mulvey!

Peter Mulvey is the greatest musician no one has ever heard of and "Kitchen Radio" is his greatest release. . . so far. I say that because up until "KR" I thought the same of the "Trouble With Poets" album. That is what's so great about Peter, his albums are so chuck-full of both lyrical imagery and musical savvy that your sure that "this is the one".

If you love the simplicity of singer-songwriter folk-rock tunes along with artistic spark that fuels incredible lyric imagery, than Peter is your man and there is no better place to start than "Kitchen Radio".

I saw him perform most of these new songs with a full band behind him twice now. They sounded great and then even better once I bought the album. Looking forward to him playing them by himself when he comes to Lowell, MA in Nov. Peter Mulvey really knows how to set poetry to music. Definitely influenced by Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello along with some Ani DiFranco and Leo Kottke. "Road to Mallow", "Shirt", and "Denver 6am" have great guitar hooks and even better lyrics that paint very vivid pictures of nighttime drives and desolate airports. Have listened to parts of this album at least once a day since buying it. Check out "Redbird" w/ him, Kris Delmhorst, and Jeffery Focoult.

Peter's best album yet. It's amazing to see the progress and maturity in someone's songwriting as they get older. Every song on here is a winner, with some of Peter's most hauntingly poetic lyrics yet. "Rise" would make Leonard Cohen proud. "29 Cent Head" takes a biting look at the corruption that surrounds us in the world. "Denver 6am", accoring to Peter, describes a dream-like state where the Sufi mystic poets appear in the Denver airport. "Me and Albert": a song aboout Chris Smither's cat. "You": a minimalist love song. The album has so much in it, and so much to say, that you can't help but sink into it. The production by Goody is fantastic and each song has a unique, appropriate, and supportive feel to it.

This album is reflective, moody, fun, and even poetic. All this done at the same time. How many artists can you say this about? I've been a fan since Rain (1993) came out. He has only gotten better with age. If you like your songs to scream at you, wrong artist. But if you like imagery, lyrics that mean something, and room for personal interpretation, this is your guy. If you get the chance to see him live, do so. Absolutely phenomenal!

At first listen I was disappointed- after hearing the songs live, the other instruments on the cd took something away for me. He really fills the space in a room all by himself.

But I gave the cd a few more chances, now I can't take it out of my cd player. I would tell you what my favorite song is, but that changes every time another song comes on. This cd is amazing front to back and I can't imagine anyone not liking it.

Peter Mulvey is a fine live performer. His shows are worth a see. His music is very intellegent, witty and tuneful pop music.