HEART SURGERY JOURNAL
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All Roads Lead to You Guest appearances by many of Canada's great players including Cam MacInnes, Andrew Aldridge, Mike Glatt, Paul Chapman on guitars, Steve Wood & Ed Ringwald ("Pee Wee Charles") on pedal steel, Shane Guse on fiddle, Dave Matthews on banjo, Helen Kopec on cello, Dave Norris, Jim Casson, Dave Norris & Peter Griffin on drums, Penner MacKay on percussion, Stacey Lee Guse Serena Pryne, Laurel Minnes & Lisa Winn on vocals and more... Buy now direct from Steve!!
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Download/view PDF 
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By Marty Murray, The Diamond Mine This new release from local Niagara-on-the-Lake musician and recording artist Steve Goldberger marks his eleventh full-length album. Like several of his others, this is an entire record of cover songs, but ones upon which he has put his own spin, which is one of his trademarks. Unlike the others, this one was done during the pandemic, so the musical contributions by other artists had to be done in isolation, but gave Steve a chance to try out his newly revamped home studio, The Shed. The songs themselves have been carefully chosen, with some well-known hits mixed with a lot of lesser-known gems. The album kicks off with Something In The Air, which was basically a one-hit wonder in 1969 for the British rock band Thunderclap Newman, but what a song, and very timely even now! Steve's spin on this one is adding some cellos to play the middle instrumental section, and it works exceedingly well, making this track an album highlight. Another hit comes next, Nature's Way, an early 70's song by the American band Spirit, and this cover is fairly true to the original, featuring a very nice slide guitar solo and female backing vocals. Again, another timely choice which addresses the destruction of our natural world. True Love is one of my favourites, a really nice little love song, written by Nashville songwriter Patrick Alger. If you like country swing, you'll enjoy One More Time, a real old-fashioned style song written by Bob McNiven. I can just picture the old fellows dancing with the ladies to this one at the Maple Leaf Tavern. Knowing What I Know Now is a cover of a Shawn Colvin song, which Steve does as a duet with Serena Pryne, singer of local rock bands The Mandevilles and The Triple Crowns, and walks some pretty familiar territory for him, as does the next track, She Belongs To Me, a nice version of the Bob Dylan classic. Another big hit comes next, Sister Golden Hair by America, and this one definitely has a unique spin, being done with a semi-reggae feel, and features a great slide guitar lead from Cam McInnes. Keep On Trying, written by Timothy Schmit from Poco and the Eagles, also has a bit of a reggae groove to it, and a soulful one as well, with some lovely female backing vocals. Very nice, and another one of my favourites here. Another favourite comes next, Just My Luck, a really sweet little song about reluctantly falling in love, written by Kim Richey. Anybody Can Be Somebody's Fool is a heartfelt ballad, written by the late Nanci Griffith. A nice tribute to a great singer-songwriter. Another Round Of Blues is a second Shawn Colvin cover, and a good one. I love the instrumentation on this, and the backing vocals. Bob Dylan comes up again next as well, with You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go, which is pretty country for Mr. Zimmerman, but Steve does a playful, fun interpretation, with a banjo solo! The album ends with a very unique take on the Badfinger classic, No Matter What. Gone are the crunchy guitars, and instead some chiming 12-strings. This might be how Tom Petty might have approached this song, and it works nicely. Anyone can imitate original recordings exactly, but if you're not going to add your own touch to a song, why bother recording it? That's the realm of the majority of cover bands, and probably what their crowd wants to hear. It's much more interesting when an artist takes a song and gives it a new twist or a new feel, and Steve Goldberger has always done that, and continues to do so on this new album. I think I've found another summer staple for my car's CD player! |
SINGLES and VIDEOS from the album
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