Vintage Rhymes and Valentines – The Christmas Day EP
Christmas time is a special time of year. With that comes Christmas music. And who doesn’t like Christmas music? With as many bands as our local scene contains, it’s surprising how few release Christmas recordings. Well, this year Vintage Rhymes and Valentines stepped up to the plate and released a 10-song recording titled The Christmas Day EP.
It’s difficult to give anything but positive feedback for this group when you can tell they are having fun. And when their intent is to gift us with some Christmas favorites, saying thanks is a great response. But the truth is that it’s a horrible record. All but two songs on the entire EP are hack jobs. The guitar is rhythmically off all the time. The Keyboards suffer the same. The Bass is closer to the beat and comes up with some good lines, but is so buried in the mix, you really have to fight to hear it. The drums are understated and muddy. The lead male vocals, when not pushed, can be emotive and fresh. But the majority of the time they are pushed, losing both tone and pitch control. The strongest part of the band is clearly the female vocals, smooth, on pitch, and pleasing to listen to.
Another local band, the Trutones was featured on the track “Feliz Navidad”. The solid horn section added by this band brought the song up to a completely different level. “Baby Its Cold Outside” was another song that rose above the rest of the recording. The female vocals were pleasing and sweet, making the off pitch male vocals almost tolerable.
The mix is muddy with large variances from song to song. Some time researching recording techniques would help in the future. On the plus side, the CD Packaging is awesome, like a folded recycled paper cup.
Some mentoring or coaching from more seasoned players could really benefit this band. And when they are ready to record again, some assistance from a recording engineer would help them break out of the inexperienced band category. Till then it’s great they are having fun.
Self-Released
myspace.com/vintagerhymesandvalentines
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