BLUE
ON BLONDE
Jonathan Gregg and
the Lonesome Debonaires
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Jagdisc
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The
same elements of wit and surprise inform the musical end of
things. Blue on Blonde is a happy amalgam of folk,
country, pop and rock, filtered through a purist guitar-band
sensibility. The title cut is a restless piece of pop-craft
with surging chords and shifting keys, conveying the sense
of adventure and uncertainty at the heart of the song. Although
Gregg's main strength is the guitar, he is careful to make
sure that he's singing a melody as well as playing one. Thus,
numbers like "White Picket Fence Life" (a thoughtful
shapshot of the American psyche) and "All Bygones"
(a woozy, countryish lament for a lost love) are real flesh-and-blood
songs, not just setups for a hot solo. "Let's Not Talk
Anymore" is such an unselfconsciously pretty rock ballad
it could have dated from sometime in the unjaded, pre-MTV
past, like 1965 or so, and the same goes for the aching "Sure
Been Scared." On the power-pop side, the catchy "Famous
Last Girl" will have you tapping your feet and singing
along even before you've learned the words. No, they don't
write 'em like that anymore but fortunately Jonathan
Gregg does.
Blue
on Blonde is available from Jagdisc, 304 Mulberry Street,
No LJ, New York, NY 10012.
~PARKE
PUTERBAUGH
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FROM
THE TWANGY GUITAR LICKS that kick-start Blue on Blonde,
you know you're in for a spirited ride. Jonathan Gregg is
a triple-threat guitarist, singer and songwriter who's come
up with a solid CD's worth of urbane, melodic country-pop
winners, usually taken at a brisk and bracing tempo. Based
in New York, he plays with the barnstorming enthusiasm and
chops of Dave Edmunds, Albert Lee and other like-minded students
of the six-string melting pot. His band mates, the Lonesome
Debonaires, back him with a streamlined, song's-the-thing
tightness. As a writer, Gregg doesn't just turn phrases, he
turns 'em inside out. Take the irrepressible opener, "Girl
About a Song," a dizzying, agile bit of wordplay sung
at a gallop: "Well I read your little letter and it didn't
take me long / Long for me to want to write a girl about a
song / Girl about a song / Wacky duet / Look how two rights
can make a wrong."
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