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www.Bogguss.com
Anyone in the music business is aware of Doug Crider's talent as a recording engineer and producer. Any true country music fan should be aware of his talents as a songwriter with over 150 songs to his credit. But until now he had never chosen to showcase his other talents as a singer and musician. With the introduction of his first CD Far and Away (available at www.suzybogguss.com) this has all changed. This fine collection of songs by Crider showcases his depth as a lyricist and his prowess as a musician. He also displays a fine voice that only those lucky enough to catch one of his duets with wife Suzy Bogguss at one of her Christmas concerts were aware of. Given the range of songs Crider has in his songwriter arsenal, it must have been difficult to pick the dozen included in this collection. The collection seems to center on love songs. Songs about being in love, songs about love lost, songs that cause the listener to think about how special love can be, how fragile it can be, and how our lives can be made so much better if we truly find and are able to keep the one we love. The CD begins with the upbeat Over a Wire, a song about love and being apart and the lengths we will go to keep love alive. The beat of this song parallels the sense of urgency one feels when they are forced to be away from the one they love. Doug's strong vocals and guitar work make this a great opening number for the CD. Lets talk about you is another love song featuring wonderful guitar and Doug's upbeat vocals. Bigger and Better Hearts, another upbeat love song, this one uses clever references to today's high tech world but reminds us of the fact that while the world may be changing around us, love has not. We can make it all right, is about a couple struggling to make it with little more than their love, which is enough! This is another song that champions the strength of relationships and love. The Fire is a clever treatment of how love builds within one and features some nice electric guitar. How a man in love can be totally at the mercy of his woman and how someone in that position can just embrace the situation and enjoy. Love me while I'm Young, makes us think about a man totally in love and in this theme the only thing that matters is that he keeps the love of his woman. Lonely Town is an edgier song featuring hard driving electric guitar backed by a powerful drumbeat and speaking to love lost and the feeling of loneliness that it brings. Seven Smiles seems to be a clever but thinly disguised tribute to Suzy and the many looks she has. Anyone that has been around her and is at all observant will recognize at least a couple of those smiles. This characteristic is not unique to Suzy but as someone that has seen several of those smiles, I must say that she is a master of the smile. That said, one can take the lesson of this song and apply it to their own relationships. If we are observant we can learn much by our partners expressions. And if we are truly observant, we will recognize that true love keeps those special moments and special looks for special times and that not all-important communication between couples is verbal. Perhaps this is a lesson we all need to learn. Goodnight Mississippi is the crown jewel of this CD with the potential to be a hit if it would be given the promotion it deserves. Starting with a wonderful acoustic guitar introduction and featuring Suzy Bogguss, its another touching love song about the pain and longing of two in love being apart. In this song Doug's vocals shine and mesh with Suzy's wonderful voice to produce a magical duet. One of the finest duets I have ever heard. Sometimes two great singers can combine for a duet that is well sung, well produced and turns out great. Sometimes two people in love can combine for a duet and its almost as if you can actually hear the love in their hearts through their voices. This is such a case and it makes this duet a classic. Far and Away also features three Crider songs that were previously released by Suzy Bogguss. Family Tree is a song all Bogguss fans will recognize from the Nobody Love, Nobody Gets Hurt CD, but hearing Doug put his spin on it brings out another perspective and while different, it's a nice treatment of a subject that many of us can relate to. It reflects a time when things seemed simpler, less threatening and safe. Doug's treatment of the title track Far and Away (a song released by Suzy on the Give Me Some Wheels CD) is again different, a somewhat simpler treatment, but also very well done. Letting Go was a hit for Suzy (Aces, Voices in theWind, Live at Café Milano) and while this will not replace her version, after listening to it, I must admit that it brought home a new meaning for me. With Suzy's version, I found myself thinking about how a mother would feel when her child left the nest. Doug makes us realize that fathers are free to have those same feelings too. Even though we might not show them as easily. Let me end by saying that as I have gotten a bit older, I have found that I take much more interest in songs than I did when I was in my teens or a bit later. Back then if it sounded good, or was popular with my friends, I probably liked it. Not that I always followed the lead of the pack but I must confess that my tastes were pretty mainstream back then. Of course back then was one of the greatest times for music (60s, 70s) when much of what we today know as country would have been pop. Okay, now that I have dated myself, I will tell you that I rarely bothered to know or care who wrote the songs, who played the instruments, or any of the myriad of jobs that it takes to actually get a collection of songs from someone's mind to a format that we can all enjoy. I am proud to say that as I have gotten older I have come to appreciate all those things. They all take talent, and any album worth its salt has talented folks in all those jobs. This album has one particular talent handling all these jobs, Doug Crider! Doug wrote or co-wrote all the material, plays all the instruments, and worked all the magic in the production end. This album is a keeper! Mutt Meritt |
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www.bogguss.com: © 2006 S.F. Promotion Group. All rights reserved.
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Any/all of Suzy Bogguss´ music, sound recordings, musical works, pictures and audio visual works are protected by copyright laws. Those laws prohibit all unauthorized reproduction and all unauthorized distribution of any items in all/but not limited to the categories listed above. Anyone engaging in such activities could be liable for substantial financial damages. |
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