Send Sean Flinn Flowers

December 11, 2004

I like this review. I think he understands our intentions.

http://umbrellamusic.com/cdreview.php?id=802

Northey Valenzuela · Northey Valenzuela
(Universal - 2004)

This is some fine blue-eyed soul!

Vancouver-based rock/pop outfit the Odds benefited from a couple sharp songwriters, one being Craig Northey. Word had it a few years back that Northey was writing down in La-La-Land with former Gin Blossoms front man Jesse Valenzuela. This album is the result of that collaboration.

You’ll note quite early on, if you’re a fan of Corner Gas on CTV, that the show’s theme song is delivered by Northey Valenzuela. “Not a Lot Goin’ On” is Odds-era pop. For that reason, it stands out as a bit of a plant, a stab at an easy single.

The really good stuff here is the handful of tunes with varying degrees of soul accents on them; not surprising considering Northey spent part of the time between the breakup of the Odds and this record playing in Sharkskin, a Booker T & the MGs-styled band.

For example, Valenzuela’s “See Through Heart” has some great electric piano on it that could sound as at home on the aforementioned Booker T & the MGs or a Meters album. “Let it Go” and “Halfway to Happy” – both good examples of soulful tunes of love and heartache – stand out on the record too.

Former Odds drummer Pat Steward plays on this record, adding some muscle to it. But there’s plenty of gutsy guitar work too, just like in real soul and R&B (not the current variety) music, such as on the opener “Talk to Yourself.” Northey, Valenzuela and company know and appreciate how underappreciated R&B musicians are from the sounds of this record. So in that sense it sounds like a tribute to that era.

Some people are going to find this record too adult-contemporary, too MuchMoreMusic, but they are the ones who equate blue-eyed soul to Hall and Oates. This ain’t that. This is a whole hell of a lot better.

Rating: 8

- Sean Flinn