My heart skipped a beat or two when I fished this
one out of the crate - from the cover, I thought at first blush I'd stumbled
upon some obscure Brian Wilson/Beach Boys bootleg that I wasn't previously aware
of. Alas though, it wasn't to be; Hawaiian of shirt and pudding bowl of haircut
he might be, Michael Conrad is not a beach boy from the West Coast. He's
actually from the north of England. Tant pis I guess.
The bootleg mistake was an easy one to make though; from the cheap cardboard to the sparse design, the way 'Hammond Organ My Way' is packaged has a definite 'knock off' lack of quality to it. I don't know if this is a private pressing, but it doesn't look like much time, money or effort went into it - they've even manage to spell Conradd's name as 'Micheal' on the back. It's the music that matters though and, once again, what we have here is another mixed bag of tunes ('Amazing Grace', 'Send In The Clowns', 'Una Paloma Blanca' to name three) played as instrumentals on a Hammond organ.
And played at a very low volume at that - I commented on the previous entry that Stef Meeder's playing was dull and pedestrian, but he plays like Steve Vai fronting Metallica compared to Mr Conradd. Maybe the neighbours had been complaining about the noise, but for whatever reason the volume of the mix here is set firmly at the lower end of the dial and the music is played as slowly as treacle dripping off the end of a wooden spoon. Even the fist pumping patriotism of the 'Dambusters March' is reduced to an arthritic crawl and whisper by Conradd's organ burbling away on a very low flame.*
Unlike most releases of this genre that I've come across so far, most of the tunes here are played self contained and whole instead of as part of a medley, though at just 10 tracks, it's not the longest album in the world. Not that I'd particularly want to hear any more you understand; there's enough here for me to get the measure of Michael Conradd and his album is an inoffensive as they come, yet criticising it feels almost like criticising a painting done by a five year old child for a lack of realism, poor perspective and childish use of colour. If that 'Hammond Organ - My Way' is a like it or lump it, stall setting statement of intent, then fair enough, but I'm afraid in that case I'm just going to have to lump it. This is Dullsville USA all the way.
* A word too about his sidekick Horace Jeffery on drums. Though his name is given prominence on both sides of the cover, I'm not at all sure that this isn't some kind of 'in joke'. Because whilst I wasn't expecting Keith Moon, the drum sound and patterns on display here are indistinguishable from the pre-set drum tracks you find on most home organs.
The bootleg mistake was an easy one to make though; from the cheap cardboard to the sparse design, the way 'Hammond Organ My Way' is packaged has a definite 'knock off' lack of quality to it. I don't know if this is a private pressing, but it doesn't look like much time, money or effort went into it - they've even manage to spell Conradd's name as 'Micheal' on the back. It's the music that matters though and, once again, what we have here is another mixed bag of tunes ('Amazing Grace', 'Send In The Clowns', 'Una Paloma Blanca' to name three) played as instrumentals on a Hammond organ.
And played at a very low volume at that - I commented on the previous entry that Stef Meeder's playing was dull and pedestrian, but he plays like Steve Vai fronting Metallica compared to Mr Conradd. Maybe the neighbours had been complaining about the noise, but for whatever reason the volume of the mix here is set firmly at the lower end of the dial and the music is played as slowly as treacle dripping off the end of a wooden spoon. Even the fist pumping patriotism of the 'Dambusters March' is reduced to an arthritic crawl and whisper by Conradd's organ burbling away on a very low flame.*
Unlike most releases of this genre that I've come across so far, most of the tunes here are played self contained and whole instead of as part of a medley, though at just 10 tracks, it's not the longest album in the world. Not that I'd particularly want to hear any more you understand; there's enough here for me to get the measure of Michael Conradd and his album is an inoffensive as they come, yet criticising it feels almost like criticising a painting done by a five year old child for a lack of realism, poor perspective and childish use of colour. If that 'Hammond Organ - My Way' is a like it or lump it, stall setting statement of intent, then fair enough, but I'm afraid in that case I'm just going to have to lump it. This is Dullsville USA all the way.
* A word too about his sidekick Horace Jeffery on drums. Though his name is given prominence on both sides of the cover, I'm not at all sure that this isn't some kind of 'in joke'. Because whilst I wasn't expecting Keith Moon, the drum sound and patterns on display here are indistinguishable from the pre-set drum tracks you find on most home organs.
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