Dan Tyler
~ True Blue
by Joe Hartlaub
Dan Tyler has been a mainstay on the Nashville music scene for
many years, writing classic tunes such as “The Light In
Your Eyes” by LeAnn Rimes and “Bobbie Sue” by
the Oak Ridge Boys, and radio hits for the likes of Kenny Rogers,
The Dirt Band, Eddy Arnold, B.J. Thomas, among many others. Tyler’s
considerable songwriting talent, however, is not limited to the
country genre as that exists today; he has, in fact, a repertoire
of compositions that don’t fit particularly well into any
specific classification, yet which are different and unique enough
to quietly and shoulder their way to the front of a listener’s
attention.
TRUE BLUE, Tyler’s second collection of songs, is a versatile
grouping of compositions impeccably written and performed by Tyler,
with the musical assistance of Brad Jones, Mark Pisapia, and Tony
Crow. A word here about the production. Joe Pisapia, a touring
member of Guster and a brilliant producer and musician in his
own right, provides the perfect complement to Tyler‘s creative
muse. He wisely keeps Tyler‘s gently weathered vocals in
the front of the mix, lightly supported by spare arrangements
which always add to the proceedings. Accordingly, the lightly
applied flourishes and additions here --- the short guitar solo
on “Whenever I’m Alone With You,” the unobtrusive
but integral organ riffs on “O How Marvelous Is Life,”
a chamber piece addition to “I Beg The Moon,” ---
make each track sound just a bit different. At first deceptively
simple, more and more can be heard with each subsequent listening.
The sole track on TRUE BLUE which treads anywhere near the country
genre is “The Cowboy Blues,” which evokes the spirit
of the late Roy Orbison without sacrificing the unique of Tyler‘s
own vision. Similarly, “Whenever I’m Alone With You”
has the cocktail jazz feel of Charlie Rich’s later work,
as opposed to the countrypolitan tracks he cut in the mid-1970s;
at the same time, one can almost hear Tony Bennett doing a note-for-note
cover of this composition even as one listens to Tyler understated
vocal stylings. “I Give My Star To You” sounds like
it could have been written for Gilbert O’Sullivan, and indeed,
there is a bit of a jaunty British pub feel to it, due in no small
part to Crow‘s inspired, but not overbearing, piano solo.
The quietly upbeat, optimistic “O How Marvelous Is Life”
is just what it portends to be, a count-your-blessings composition
that stands in stark and welcome contrast to the doom-and-gloom
bombast which issues forth from terrestrial radio. “I Love
My Bed” is similar, from a topical standpoint, paying tribute
to life’s simple pleasures. The standout song on TRUE BLUE,
however, is “I Beg the Moon,” an angst-laden song
of loss and longing that begs for a musical on the order of Les
Miserables to be written around it, even as it stands just fine
on its own. Jim Hoke’s and Chris Charmichael’s chamber
group arrangement on this performance builds nicely and unobtrusively,
providing an atmospheric lead-in and support for Tyler’s
half-spoken, half-sung, low key delivery that occasionally dips
into a whisper.
TRUE BLUE, like its creator, defies characterization or pigeonholing.
What can be said is that if you play TRUE BLUE on a Sunday morning
ten years from now it will sound just as fresh, and new, and contemporary,
as it will the first time you play it. Recommended.
|