Customer Reviews

Sky Above

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of those great CD's that you run across once in a while and they never leave your CD player.All the songs on here are excellent.Whether your in the mood for something up-beat or something on the slow side, you've got it all here!Theres alot of tallent on this CD.BRICKLIN IS BACK BIG TIME!and it's about time!

I've now seen these guys twice on stage and they are great. The last time was July 17, 1999. They opened up for some band and they just blew them away. It is not often that the opening band embarrasses the main stage band, but it happened that night. Their CD sounds great, but they are even better on stage. These guys show real promise and I predict that they will make it big once everyone else gets a chance to hear their music. Bottom line: buy their CD. Also Scott, the lead singer, said that one of their songs is suppose to be in some new movie that is coming out so.

This group has some real talent. I went to see them for the 1st time in Rochester NY (free concert) Im officially hooked. Im sure I ll be paying in the future.

Nicci

I Think these guys will have some serious national impact with Sky Above. The songs are not only well-structured musically, but the lyrics really connect to the listener. I have heard many bands in my travels as a sound tech, but these guys have a unique sound. There's not a band out there that you can say they sound like. This makes a difference in today's market.

I recently bought a Roland Digital Multitrack Reacorder, which included a demo disk to get a feel for how to use the machine. The disk included snipets of songs from various artists including "Mercy Blue" by Martin's Dam. From the first listen I was totally hooked- and there was only a minute's worth of the song on the disk!

I don't know how they got on the demo disk, but I immediately snatched up the album after hearing it. Incredible talent, great songwriting, and genuine delivery! I'll be looking around Philly to se if I can find them live in whole or in part!

If the members of Martin's Dam have a "fear of flying" (the lead single on this CD), they may have good reason. Each of Brian and Scott Bricklin, Mark Gorman and Gary Gold are veterans of Philadelphia bands with enormous talent and numerous brushes with greatness. These names will have deep meaning for longtime observers of the Philadelphia Music Scene, like the current reviewer -- Bricklin, Robert Hazard, John Eddie and the Front Street Runners, the Yow Kings and Fascist Julio and the Stranded Jellyfish. To be a fan of Philly bands (like being a fan of the Phillies) is to live with constant heartache and the inevitable knowledge that all great effort must ultimately be rewarded by a cold slap in the face. We call it the choke factor.

In fact, the very first lyrics on this album pay homage to this hometown pessimism -- "I left the light on in the basement, for my return ..." The funny thing is, this time, with this band and this CD, all Philly may have a shot at breaking the curse.

For starters, like the few Philadelphia bands that have risen to national prominence (and I'm going way back here -- Hall & Oates, the Hooters, etc.) these guys can really write songs. As I settled into the first track (fear of flying), one of the catchiest pop/rock anthems I have heard in years, I was gripped by the "fear" that I was about to hear a 10-song plea for commercial acceptance instead of a rock album. True, the dark sensibility of the lyrics should have tipped me off that this was a more serious effort. But I still had my doubts -- until the bridge. When the lush backing vocals of the chorus gave way to the CRUNCH of bare bar chords, which seamlessly resolved into an almost sad, Beatlesesque minor progression, I became a true believer. No lack of cohones here. This is the work of clever and confident songwriters.

Some other highlights:

The first five songs are so catchy, and work so well together, that alternative rock jocks will be tempted to let all five play in a row. Kind of like the second side of Abbey Road.

The use of backing vocals on this CD is nothing short of brilliant. If this band has a signature, this may be it. Somehow, they have managed to spread the icing on the cake in thick layers, while avoiding the pure sugar of, say, REO Speedwagon or the Bangles.

I'm not sure whether songwriting or production gets credit for this, but there are some truly masterful instrumental touches on the CD that make one think some higher intelligence is at work. In "take you down" (a bitter reality check on Mother Goose) the juxtaposition of the raw acoustic guitar against an ethereal church organ delivers a beautiful, almost morbid punch. When a heavily synthesized, insect-like repeating guitar lick is laid down on top of this already odd combination, the effect is to inject a dangerous sense of lack of balance in the song, which tends to reinforce the twisted use of common nursery rhymes in the lyrics. (NB: I feel like I have heard that guitar sound before -- heavily reminiscent of Peter Gabriel/Robert Fripp circa 1980).

Martin's Dam may actually outdo Oasis in their ability to evoke the taste and smell of the latter- day Beatles. Each of "carousel" and "the sky above" could easily be slipped into Sgt. Pepper without notice. While many bands have borrowed from psychedelia to suit more modern ends, this tends to be a San Francisco/Jefferson Airplane-style phenomenon. Martin's Dam, on the other hand, has so successfully reproduced the feel of "Lucy in the Sky" on the title track of this CD that I felt an intense desire to run out and buy some Peter Max prints.

One of the principal reasons Martin's Dam can afford not to "play it safe" in the songwriting department is the pure musicianship of its members. A great example is the funky "i wanna", where the bass and drums have an opportunity to drive. In the hands of lesser musicians, this effort could have easily fallen flat as "out of genre". With Martin's Dam, "i wanna" is simply a glimpse of the band's true range. You can tell that Martin's Dam has much more to say, and many different ways to say it.

Also, there is a surprise for those that are patient after the 10th track. I literally thought I was receiving radio signals in my fillings.

Who knows, if this CD takes off (as it should) it might be safe for this reviewer to move back to Philly.

Yo Adrian! (I'm practicing).

This is quite a decent album, for a group that is for the most part, unknown. Friends often hear it playing and often ask what it is.

This is my second Martin's Dam CD. The Healing is a CD I bought in Philly at one of their shows. They were Only Three then. This album has alot of the same songs but with 5 guys working the music the sound is fuller.