Customer Reviews

With Teeth

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

 

 

"With Teeth" is truly a tour de force for Broadside Electric's current, five-member lineup. Principal lead singer Tom Rhoads has never sounded better, sort of like Oscar Brand after a regimen of vocal aerobics, and the other male voices provide strong support. The band's instrumental versatility is superb, as usual. If there's any weakness, it's in Broadside's most prominent female voice, Amy Ksir -- she's admirably tasteful and a very astute overall musician, but her physical instrument isn't yet quite up to the up-front role her featured vocals put it in. Former member Melissa Demian hints at what a more assured female singer could bring to Broadside's pumped-up sound with a positively soaring turn responding to Rhoads on "The Gardner" -- I hope Ms. Ksir has listened to and aspires to Ms. Demian's power and clarity. All in all, though, this is a minor complaint about a CD that is as good as any I've heard from an electrified American band in the "trad" genre -- buy it now!

Finally, after 2 years of playing live with this lineup, we have a full length CD from Broadside Electric with the drums, and the full woodwind and string arrangements that they have live. My favourite track is the epic whaling tale "Three Pounds Ten" which sends shivers up my spine every time I hear it (as it would to anyone who has worked out on the high seas).

If you are into the elcetric/celtic/european folk type music, and you wnat to find out why BE packs venues all up and down the east coast, this would be the album to start your collection with, in my opinion.

With Teeth is the latest album by Broadside Electric, and it packs a powerful punch! People familiar with Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention, Boiled in Lead or Tempest will want to check out this quintet.

This album has plenty of music and mayhem for everyone, consisting of a broad range of styles. Fans of traditional folk, ballads, eastern European dances, reels and Klezmer will be very pleased by this offering. There is even a Bob Dylan cover for the more traditional folkies in the audience.

Electric folk fans will recognize the wide range of instruments used on the album, including all manners of strings, violins, horns, flutes, whistles and drums. There are a few strange things thrown in as well, like an eerie looped piece and an occasional crumhorn or concertina.

If you like your folk music with a bit of a kick, With Teeth delivers!

Well, wow! With Teeth is BE's best effort yet! Already a huge fan of "More Bad News", I was nervous to hear the addition of winds and drums to the lineup but the two new players come through superbly! Joe D'Andrea's drumming achieves that fine balance of skilled playing and an instinct to lay low when need be! Amy Ksir offers an amazing flurry of whistles, clarinets, as well as vocals. While other reviews tend to offer her vocals as a weak point, I find them to be both deep and honest. In fact her lovely voice has a lot of character and shines on "three pounds ten". The three originals excel as well; Jim playing the mysterious Chapman stick to perfection, Tom adding elegant vocals to fine string playing, and Helen finding all the right notes on the violin and fiddle. Also, let it be said the Bob Dylan cover "Masters of War" blows away the Pearl Jam version as well as the original ( sorry bob! ) The addition of the hyped-up Julia Delany blends in quite well with the Dylan tune. Overall this is a great CD and something every music lover should have in their collection. The band is also good with responding to emails and seem fun and friendly. Buy this only is you like good music!

I went to see Broadside Electric live and they were very good. I knew that I would like them because I really like that type of music, but they were excellent so I bought a cd.

I've been a BE fan for a while now, and I'm sorry to say that "With Teeth" wasn't as good as I would have hoped. Their tune selection, as always, is excellent, but various tracks seemed badly mixed so you could hardly hear the vocals, and I'm not particularly fond of the new female vocalist's voice. The drums are an interesting addition, but I don't think they really add anything to the mix. So I would suggest buying all their other CDs, starting with "More Bad News", and only picking up this one to round out your collection.