Coyote Poets of the Universe: Callin' You Home

Coyote Poets of the Universe are an eleven piece band hailing from Denver, Colorado. The band started out as three multi-instrumentalists that eventually grew to the unit they are today. Their new album Callin' You Home is a blend of folk, crooner, pop, blues, country and rock. There is a definite influence of 50s style rock and roll, particular in the use of electric guitar. If you are looking for a progressive rock release you have come to the wrong place. I do not mean this in a negative way, but this has nothing whatsoever to do with progressive music. However, there are a variety of styles displayed here, so this release may surprise some people if they give it a chance. I have to admit I do not normally listen to music of this nature and upon my first listen I was prepared to dismiss this entirely and rate this rather low. After the second listen, some of the melodies did begin to stick in my head. That being said, some of these songs, although not poorly executed, just do not do it for me. That probably has more to do with the style of music than anything else.

There are a variety of instruments used such as violin, English horn, oboe, clarinet, banjo, bongos and congas. The violin tends to give some of these songs a Cajun/folk feel. The vocals, both male and female, are quite earthy in nature and suit the style of music. Much of this music has an organic flavour due to a heavy reliance on acoustic instruments.

As far as album highlights I enjoyed "Criminal" with a lead vocal that reminded me a little of Grace Slick although the music is nothing like Jefferson Airplane. This one has a jazzy big band feel along with nice violin, piano and old style electric guitar. The quiet and contemplative "Tender" is a somber piece with piano, violin and female vocals beautifully creating a sad atmosphere. My favourite song is the country/jazz influenced "Yes Or No" with it's deep vocal stylings reminiscent of Johnny Cash contrasting nicely with strong female backing vocals. Again piano and violin are the main instruments of choice.

As far as low points are concerned I found the spoken word segments did not work for me. Some of the lyrics border on cheese and if I am to be frank, a little unnecessary in my opinion. That is not to say you should not hear this for yourself because it all boils down to personal taste.

While there are some nice songs here, overall I find myself sitting on the fence with this one. Fans of old style crooner/jazz recordings may very well like this. For me, this one warrants 2.5 stars.

Track Listing:
1. Irrational Anthem (1:38)
2. Criminal (3:26)
3. Tender (3:48)
4. Surfin@Stonehenge (2:13)
5. Yes Or No (4:10)
6. Callin' You Home (5:35)
7. Russian Percussion (1:02)
8. Disturbance (4:17)
9. I Don't Know Birds (4:21)
10. Canonization (5:28)
11. Jesus Debbie (Shut The Fuck Up) (2:00)
12. Burnt Down (6:52)

Added: March 4th 2009
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Band's Official Site
Hits: 2069
Language: english

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