Customer Reviews

Sideman Serenade

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Is there any style Bromberg can't play? Here he does folk-revival, country, gospel, rural-style blues, urban electric blues, and even a samba. The masterpiece of the album, and one of the best pieces of Bromberg's career, is "Testify"--a gospel-singing, shouting, talking story/song that is brilliantly conceived and executed, with gospel choir quaking in the background.

Sideman Serenade contains some of Bromberg's best tunes; unfortunately many of these tunes are marred by an uninspired late 1980s production. "Testify," "Top of the Slide," and "Watch Baby Fall," are three of the best songs Bromberg ever wrote and while "Testify" can be a showstopper in live performance, the studio version sounds rushed, particularly David's spoken part. Sadly, that rare combination of sidesplitting humor and gorgeous harmony present in live performances of this track is not readily apparent in the studio version. The highlights of the album, for me are "Top of the Slide," a simple, effective country tune with great hooks, and "Watch Baby Fall," a poignant song about fatherhood. As a songwriter, Bromberg has a unique gift for probing sensitive subject matter and that same heartbreaking reality present in "Sammy's Song" (from Bromberg's self-titled debut) is present in the subtle, but powerful "Watch Baby Fall." This song alone might justify the purchase of this album for those that have most of Bromberg's earlier recordings such as my personal favorite, Midnight on the Water. Regardless of its shortcomings, this album deserves a remastering, as this version of the CD is the exact same version that was available in 1989. A remastering might bring this recording to life a bit, but it certainly won't make it compare to a live performance. If there's an underlying message to this review it's "see David Bromberg live." His live shows are better than ever.