☆Reviews☆
Rick Williams has firstly compiled his own recording history for posterity. On CD reissues of his teenage cassette goofiness on Jiving Around and Brownpeace's Save The Roaches (the insects, not anything that need be clipped), tape hiss is unavoidably audible but sometimes adds to the rudimentary charm. More recently, Siamese Connection reflects upon his time in Thailand (he's also lived in China, the Phillipines and elsewhere). He does so as a kind of lo-fi Beck, sometimes with faux arch British accent and a sense of humor obsessed with food ("Bad BBQ Sandwich At Taste Of Chicago Blues", "Xpressway To Yr Mango", "Emergency Noodle Theme"). His instrumentals are catchy in a systems music-meets baroque doodliness. An outside producer could help this redheaded world traveler focus, but there's still enough, here, of rough, idiosyncratic delight to picque the interest of dwellers of the deep indie-scape.
-Jamie Rake, "the bohemian aesthetic", March 2006
Rick
Williams
Shinkansen.
Aaugh! Records. Custom EP. 2001. CD.
Rumor has it, if you look inside the LP "Mommy Doesn't Love Daddy Any More" by the Resurrection Band, you will see the face of a young boy, rather pensive and in thought. That boy is Rick Williams, according to a very reliable source. I first met Rick at one of my early CStone adventures. He was living in the Jesus People commune in Chicago and making music and words in his room. He had formed a band called Brownpeace and had put together a cassette called "Save the Roaches." It had six tunes. It was his first venture in giving away his music for others to hear. (A CD reissue of "Roaches" should be available shortly).
Since that time, Rick has honed his craft and has gotten better. Nonetheless, he has not compromised what he feels and hears in his head - he puts these things on plastic now and this CD is one of those experiments. The CD under review contains seven selections. The title song is an instrumental and shows an influence of non-Western music and culture. A blues tune comes next - "Salvation Army Blues" - pleasant to listen to; movement is slow and mournful in narrative. "Strobe" is a version of a Gene Eugene song from the album "Perfecta." Next up is "Gnashville," which pokes fun at Nashville - "marketing salvation." "Watch What You're Doing" is Rick's take on the Larry Norman tune. "Confuzion" is a bit-fuzzy instrumental (with a vocal near the very end) that feels OK as it plunks along to its end, after 8 minutes and 20 seconds; once in a while it almost sounds like it wants to scream into a Beach Boys riff or two. A seventh song (no title listed) could be called "Confuzion Lite," as it has a more lilting, joyous edge to it.
These 7 tunes are homemade on whatever equipment Williams could find. Over the years I have always found that some of the best heart-felt music moving through the Christian scene was the custom LPs / Cassettes / CDs that came my way because some band or individual took the time to have a vision of the gift God had given.
Are these songs great music? No,
but that doesn't truly matter. Just like Danielson, Williams makes the
music that he sees and feels. If I can connect to the vision just a bit, I have
shared something of the singer / writer that I can take with me for years. The
early cassettes of No Laughing Matter, Face of Five and Metal
Truck all come to my mind. Williams fits snugly in with them.
+ + + 3/4. (Dan Kennedy)
(c)2003
The Cutting Edge
Aron Noll
Aron Noll
Big Bear Tracks/ Aaugh! Records
Aron Noll plays down-to-earth rock. He combines straightforward songs with honest lyrics. The lo-finess of his music could be accidental or intended, but either way adds to the listening experience. As he sings mostly of relationships--with God and people--the openness of his lyrics is further exemplified by his simple and heartfelt vocal delivery.
Backing up his voice and guitar are
Bill and Jeanie Sherman on drums and bass. Several others bring to the record
instruments such as classical guitar, didgeridoo, djembe, and keyboards. This is
a promising recording from individuals who show a genuine love and desire for
what they do.
(c)Cornerstone
Magazine
Rick Williams
Going Crazy
CD. Custom release. 1999
I first met Rick Williams (but if I recall correctly, he had another name in his wallet - Vaughn or something similar) in 1990 at the Cornerstone Fest. He was a resident at JPUSA and he had a tape, but then so did most everyone I encountered at the festival. In every conversation and out of every pocket came "I've got a tape. Could you review it?" As much as I may have wanted to review all the items given to me, there was just no way. Well, Rick had a tape by the band Brownpeace. Album was called "Save the Roaches." I still have it. Rather a mix of social commentary and humor. Songs titles were Save the Roaches / No More Pesticides / Styro-foam / Pastafarian (this is a way-cool title!) / Boycott McDonald's / Atomic Roach Motel. Totally homemade, good for a few thoughts and laughs. No pretentiousness here. Rick and his friend Josh Cadieux were just having fun and discovering who and what they were.
Now along comes this rough mix CDR of thirteen tunes demonstrating that RW has not lost his touch for some low-fi fun and music. A large dose of blues stylings, a mix full of oddities (amps with feedback, someone being poetic and out of place), no lyrics provided and a bit of fun thrown in for the attentive mind. An example of the last is when RW introduces his harmonica solo by saying "Take it, Bobby." And this is done well after he satirizes early Dylan by rhyming suffering with Bufferin; this is a tune about following Jesus - "if you don't understand this song... maybe you better ring a gong / Because it's all coming down pretty soon." Taken together, these two items made me smile and laugh quietly out loud! (Hard to do both).
Some of the better tunes are ones, like "Kingsize Zero," the Dylan song ("Good Life"), "Don't Nobody" and "Check It Chief." The fuzzy-guitar praise of "Jesus," while in need of much studio work, still speaks better than all the slick praise choruses I have sung and heard in church and in Promise Keepers or other large meetings.
Certainly not up to the quality of Steven Curtis or Mikey W, but the kind of self-expression offered by Rick - following his own blues muse, not afraid to say through his music "Here I am, use me" and hoping to be encountered where he is musically - speaks of what heart-felt music, emotion and calling are all about. Hoping to hear more of RW and friends and wishing for a less muddied sound (but not something too pristine), this rough mix gets + + + simply because I know he will and can do better; and please work on the vocals on "On My Mind." Slippage is all too evident. (Baptist Boy)
To get a copy of this (the final
mix will sound better), check out the
Aaugh! Records web site.
(c)2000
The Cutting Edge