BIRD MANCINI
Year Of Change (Second Story)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

---

For their second collaboration as Bird Mancini, Bostonians Ruby Bird and Billy Carl Mancini stay a little closer to the blues pocket throughout than was the case on their more eclectic debut album. While the wider spectrum of sounds on the last effort was big fun, and I'm still a big fan of the album, there are undeniable advantages to the current approach. Sometimes playing to your strengths is a better call than playing everything you can, and Year Of Change proves to be one of those times.

Part of the new sound, and one of the changes referenced in the title, is the appearance of a new rhythm section, bassist Kevin Mahoney and drummer Nancy Delaney. Veterans of the Boston club scene, the rhythm duo sets their groove in concrete, leaving Bird and Mancini free to bring virtually every track to a series of rising crescendos.

I don't mean to imply that this is a blues album. There are blues roots apparent, and even a real blues track or two, but it's a rock album through and through. Neither is the eclecticism that made the last album so noteworthy completely absent. When Ruby Bird picks up her accordion, for instance, she can transport the whole band in a Delta direction, and Mancini has an astonishing range of tonal colors on his guitar palette, but this time the eclecticism has a more disciplined feeling - variations on a theme rather than varied themes.

All of which largely misses the point, which is that this is a terrific album, full of good songs, strong harmonies and rock solid musicianship.

This year, change is good

Track List:

Wrong People * You're My Obsession * Don't You Fall * Oh, Babe * Year Of Change * Sirens In The Night * Love Holds On * River Of Sighs * You're Not Alone * Just Wait And See * Long Gone Blues * Freedom Soul * Someone Like You * The Future's Begun

© 2005 - Shaun Dale