Review – “Dusty Road” is “Anything but Dusty”.
Paul Liberatore of the Marin Independent Journal has published a review of Mountam Band’s “Dusty Road” album. Continue reading the review in its entirety.
Press Play: Mark Moore’s ‘Dusty Road’ is anything but dusty
“Mark G. Moore, a Sausalito management consultant and accomplished musician and songwriter, continues his long association with Brazilian guitarist-producer Jose Neto on the nine lavishly produced tracks on this ambitious album, Moore’s seventh.
“Dusty Road” is something of a misnomer for a nine-song collection fairly dripping with lush vocal harmonies, exotic instrumentation and wave upon wave of sound. The stripped-down title track is also anomalous in that it’s the only tune with a dash of bluesy grit on a record colored by world music, new age and soft rock influences.
The opening song, “Freedom,” immediately brings to mind the 1970s trio America with its chiming acoustic guitars and vocal harmonies courtesy of Moore joining voices with Lorin and Chris Rowan.
The Rowans’ Beatle-ish, CSN-like harmonies and guitar work are all over “Dusty Road,” most engagingly on “This Time,” a lovely ballad with Moore’s assured lead vocal floating above Neto’s nylon-string acoustic guitar, Celso Alberti’s sensitive drums, Krishna Booker’s woody, resonant conga and Gary Brown’s velvety bass and lush strings, played on a synthesizer.
Paul Booth is showcased on flute and Hammond B3 organ on the instrumental “Lovely,” recorded at Wincraft Studios in England. It is, in a word, lovely.
On the haunting “Eyes Will Open,” with Paul’s tabla and Ben Leinbach’s programmed percussion adding North Indian classical music flavors, the layered vocal harmonies repeat the phrase “love will wait for you,” a melody reprised on the instrumental “Beyond,” which ends a three-track sequence that is like a world music album in itself.
This is the kind of record that demands repeated listening. Headphones recommended. Moore and Neto, who have worked together for some 15 years, have created an ocean of moods and sounds that at times border on the symphonic. Dusty it isn’t.”