Customer Reviews

Parador

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

 

 

'Parador' is an intelligent, infectuously-listenable power-pop tour de force from singer-songwriter Willie Wisely. Inside, he covers all the emotional bases of loves found, loves lost, loves celebrated, loves regretted. His masterpiece 'Through Any Window' is worthy of comparisons to McCartney. Parador's pop-centric core is flavored with elements of jazz, folk, and California rock. I bought this CD in 2006 and it quickly became one of my 'top ten' desert-island type CDs. Great hooky melodies and lyrics. Intelligent? Well, show me another CD where the artist works the word 'vicissitude' into into his lyrics! Parador is a consistently great listen and in my opinion Wisely's greatest work to date.

I became familiar with Wisely's music courtesy of his self titled release in January of 2008. I really enjoyed that CD, and I was excited to see that he had previous CDs that he had released. I decided to begin additional exploration of his music with Parador after hearing a few song on various internet sources such as YouTube (he has a number of videos to these songs). Here are my impressions of Parador.

This is a very good CD, and people who already own the self titled CD will find enough similarities on Parador to continue their enjoyment. Too Quick To Love is my favorite song from this disc, and it is a melancholy tune that would fit in well with his later material. Stayin' Home Again is an upbeat song that compares well to Vanilla on the self titled CD. However, Parador also has elements that are unique to it. This Is Everything is much more of a straight ahead rocker than anything you will find on Wisely's later work. It makes for a great opening song for the CD because it gets your attention before giving way to Too Quick To Love. The truest link to the self titled CD, though, is the song that appears on both - Through Any Window. This song is best known for having Jenna Fischer star in its video.

My one disappointment in Parador is the song Drink Up. I have a hard time describing it, but the word noisy is what pops into my mind when listening to it. The lyrical delivery during the chorus involves a high pitched repeating of "Drink Up", and it just sends me to the skip button as quickly as I can press it. This is what keeps Parador from being a five star CD for me. While my dislike of the song is pretty strong, it is the only song between the two CDs that is a punch out for me. However, there are more than enough strong songs as mentioned above to make up for this and then some.

In conclusion, this CD has some of the best songs that you've never heard of. Wisely is a genuine artist from lyrics and vocal delivery to variety in instrumentation and mood. If you enjoy adult alternative music, give this CD a try. You won't be disappointed.

Download this: Too Quick To Love