Customer Reviews

Spin

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Every so often an album blindsides me with it's beauty. This is one of those. I was expecting it to be a side project of the Eurythmics' Dave Stewart and a new vocal partner. Instead, this is a different Dave Stewart (the one from Canterbury prog-rock cult band, Hatfield & the North). Barbara Gaskin is a real revelation: she has one of the purest voices I've ever heard and the lush multi-track vocal mixes are truly intoxicating.

Any band that can segue from "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" to "Louie Louie" in five minutes (and make it seem like a natural progression) gets my respect. Stewart & Gaskin have a real knack for transforming cover tunes into distinctive songs (often melding divergent melodies into fascinating hybrids). Joni Mitchell's "Amelia" is nearly as great as Joni's version. Stewart also writes some great originals. The best cut on the album, "Your Lucky Star," is a tribute to English producer, Joe Meek, featuring a "Telstar" guitar. Gaskin's poignant vocal serves up a stunning epitaph to a talented producer who committed suicide in relative obscurity. "Hey Joe," she sings. "you didn't have to lose your soul/Nothing mends a bullet hole." The album ends with some fine Stewart originals: "The 60's Never Die" (name checking Ringo, Hendrix, and Timothy Leary) and "Star Blind" (a heavenly ballad). Surprise yourself: buy this album (and all their other hard-to-find but great albums).

I found this CD to be absolutely amazing. I have always been a fan of Dave Stewart's work with Bill Bruford and when he formed this band with Barbara Gaskin (who sings so great) he really hit his mark. Unfortunately the work of this group went unrecognized as with so much great prog music. The thing is that this was not strictly a prog record and incorporated alot of other great sounds as well. Spiritual, creative, inspiring and beautiful work that should have been continued. What is Dave doing now?

This is an album not to miss. It's a creative mix of covers with very hip arrangements allowing Dave's technology to be tempered by the warm humanity of Barbara's voice. If I had to knock it, I'd say it didn't have enough rough edges, yet Eight Miles High is a brilliant rethinking of the Byrds' classic. This and others have a way of staying with you, and you'll find yourself humming, if not singing along outright.

GREAT -POP/ROCK for Adults - very nice and unique.
cd - STEWART/GASKIN - Spin 11 tracks label and other information: Ryko 20213 / UPC: 014431021329/ Tracks:

1. Walking The Dog
2. The Cloths Of Heaven
3. 8 Miles High
4. Amelia
5. Trash Planet
6. Golden Rain
7. Your Lucky Star
8. Cast Your Fate To The Wind/Louie Louie (medley)
9. The 60's Never Die
10. Star Blind
plus 1 bonus track
11. Untitled by David Stewart

You would never in your wildest dreams guess that Dave Stewart led progressive rock bands like Egg and National Health from listening to the rubbery 80s synth funk on this album

Not that this is 80s pop. With cover tunes and some origonals, the dou mine both an elegent pop and rubbery funk that is complex. This is not art rock, but you can tell by the tricky rhythms and layered arrangements, this is no pop album either.

But the ironies go deeper and get better. Art rockers expanded rock in the 1960s and 70s. Stewart and Gaskin are covering tracks here like "Walking The Dog" and "Eight Miles High." Redifining the rock--with radically different treatments-that prog tried to escape from.

In doing so, the master has become the apprentice, and by msking parts of classic rock cannon into something completely different, becomes the master, once again.

This CD is Ok, some songs are good, some are not , I saw this in the cutouts, and I bought it , and I was surprized that such a good CD went to waste