July 24, 1997
Has one of your relationships gone horribly wrong recently? Has it left you confused? Bewildered? BITTER? Man, have I got a record for you! Turns out that Rich Grula is not just a movie reviewer for the Orlando Weekly; he is also a fine musician and the almost sole force behind Big Happy Crowd, a group with a single-minded bent: the chronicle of broken hearts and loves gone south.
Across the 14-and-a-reprise tracks on this disc of foot-tappin' folk-rock, this theme of angst and regret is relentless - but the cool part is that this is not a depressing dirge. Grula (vocals, guitars), pulling out songs both new and from his previous lives in various Hoboken, NJ-based bands, easily handles both the soft sorrowful sounds of "Happy Birthday Betty" and the stompin' soul of tracks like "Gone."
While songs like "Pennsylvania Lament" and "My Best Lie" have a mournful air to them, they offer some sense of dark redemption, like the rain after a funeral. And even in some of the most personal stories on view here, like "He Fired the Band," "Don't Sleep with the Singer" and "Why Aren't We Having Sex," there is an underbelly of humor. On a couple of songs, most notably "Your Sister" (about dating the wrong half of a set of twins) and
"All I've Got's Your CD" (an answer song to the old cliche about "she got my records"), the tone is downright hilarious, especially if you've ever been in the situations described.
The liner notes (written by Grula, as was pretty much everything) sometimes drift off into obscura of no interest ("first
take too pumped," etc.) but usually add a touch of insight as to where the song came from, psychologically speaking. The musicianship on this release is strong throughout, but special note must be made of Claudia Chopek's mesmerizing violin (by turns bluegrass and Cossack), Dave Stengels percussion in all the right places, and John Sonntag's mandolin-to-the-rescue on "Best Lie." Memorable folk-rock and pop for the recently-dumped. Catch them live.
Big Happy Crowd
Folk & Feedback
Zesty Records
CD/15 Tracks/47:57
Produced by Rich Grula
Folk & Feedback is available from:
Zesty Records, P.O. Box 541061, Orlando, Fla. 32854-1061; $12, postpaid. For more info: e-mail: zesty@pobox.com, or call:
(407) 647-1709
Also available at Park Avenue CD's in Winter Park.
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