Steve Bailey hailing from Ashford in Kent, has been around the
Cabaret Circuit with his 'RAT PACK' show singing all the
classics like 'Fly me to the moon' and I've got you under my
skin'.
Less well known is his songwriting talents and after a long
period on the back burner, he has started writing again. This CD
is a compilation demo of some of the latest tracks to emerge
from the Steve Bailey song factory.
First impressions are
important and this collection certainly makes you sit up and
take note especially when you consider he plays all the
instruments.
The songs are strong and well structured. The backing tracks are
nicely mixed and balanced but I feel the vocals are too
prominent, they should be sat back more on top of the backing
tracks. On the subject of vocals it sounds like they have been
passed through a De-Esser and have lost some sibilance making it
difficult to understand some of the lyrics.
Play
War of Shame
I would like to hear the results of someone else's arrangements of one or
two tracks or maybe a female harmony, as some of the tracks start to sound
too similar after a few hearings.
WAR of SHAME is my favourite track
it is very bluesy and reminiscent of people like Robert Cray and
Eric Clapton. More like this please.
I also like 'The day the world stood still'
and 'Human Story'.
My overall impression is that Steve's cabaret voice is coming
through too much in places and smoothing out what are quite
powerful songs. I'm sure the GRIT in his vocals will gradually
appear and we will get a true feel for what this talented
songwriter can achieve.
