Pretzel Park

4 Way Street | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 9, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sanctuary Records
• ASIN: B0000BXMZV
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #377,598 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get ready to love this band!, November 3, 2003

By 

"lkgifford" (Magnolia, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pretzel Park (Audio CD)

Four independent musicians have teamed up to perform as the folk rock band, 4 Way Street. The only thing better than seeing this band live is to listen to this album. The vocal ability and flexibility of each of these men is evident in the rich harmonies heard throughout these recordings, particularly in "No Blood" and "Barbed Wire." These musicians have contributed individual songs to this album and have transformed them in an undeniable group effort (e.g. "Maze," "Several Thousand," "Counting on You," and "Sister Moon"). As a collaborative entity, these gifted songwriters have also composed three songs ("Change Gonna Come," "Shoot the Moon," and "No Blood") that are a testament to their synergistic relationship. This album travels an entire spectrum of emotions, from despair to joy, touching on many others along the way. Pretzel Park is guaranteed leave any listener richer for the experience.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 4 Way Street: Twisted, Crunchy Pleasure, September 10, 2003

By 

Richard Perrotti "photo freak" (Bordentown, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pretzel Park (Audio CD)

Let's set a frame of reference... It's 1994 and a friend is letting you listen to a song by some strange little group out of South Carolina. The chorus goes, "Hold my hand" and you can't get seem to get the tune out of your mind. As you listen to the CD, you find almost every song to be that way, catchy and fun. A few months later, you know that your experience was not an isolated one as America "discovers" Hootie and the Blowfish to the tune of over ten million purchased copies of "Cracked Rear View." Not bad for a debut album from an unknown band, hmm?

Get ready, America. It can happen again right here, right now.

Meet 4 Way Street, a collection of four immensely talented and quite different performers from Philadelphia. Ben Arnold, Jim Boggia, Scott Bricklin and Joseph Parsons have all had individual success in past years. However, together they create a musical synergy that is remarkable, memorable and downright infectious (in a good way!)

How does a gravelly sounding keyboard/guitarist (Ben), a guitar- wizard pure popster (Jim), a sweet-but-funk hammering bassist (Scott) and a classical-style guitarist with roots deep in European traditions (Joseph) all manage to write both collaborative and individual songs and make it sound like it was always meant to be? Such questions should not be asked. One ought to merely sit back and be swept away in wonder and delight.

"Pretzel Park" has been awaited in their hometown of Philly for almost a year. Such are the birthing pains of a great album that gets picked up by a major label. Right from the jangly guitar stirrings of "Change Gonna Come," the first song on the CD, your attention is grabbed and you hope that no let down ensues. Fear not, friend, for the two-and-four part harmonies that await you along with the catchy chorus will get your personal "hum machine" off and running. Follow that up with Ben growling through "Maze" and then you are all set for one of the catchiest pop tunes about to hit the airwaves, Jim Boggia's "Several Thousand."

Every tune could stand alone as a potential single. Scott Bricklin's bass-heavy hook on "Counting on You" will have your car stereo thumping. The band makes a statement of brotherhood and solidarity in a world-gone-violent with the anthem "No Blood." It's one incredibly solid, delightful body of work.

If you get the chance to see them play live (Right now, they are packing the prestigious Greenwich Village club "The Bitter End" weekly in NYC), you will discover that as good as they sound on the CD, they are geometrically more powerful live. Joseph Parson's "Sister Moon" absolutely blows the audience away as a set-closer.

4 Way Street and their debut album Pretzel Park is delightful, twisted, toasty pleasure. Enjoy it now before the bag is empty and all you've got left are the crumbs.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In a just world, these guys would be famous, January 14, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Pretzel Park (Audio CD)

This disc rocks, socks, sings and rings. Well-produced, well-crafted and almost unbelievably well-sung songs. "Several Thousand" and "Anne Also Ran" are such supreme power pop that its hard to believe more folks haven't heard of this band. Buy the disc, call your local radio station and ask them to play it, and get out the word.