SAM BISBEE
Vehicle (Terrible Records)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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I caught up with this one a little late, but hey, the guy lives all the way across the country! Anyway, New Yorker Sam Bisbee's debut album finally made the journey to my CD player in Seattle, and I'm very happy it did. This is terrific roots rock with a pop edge that carries vague echoes of influences ranging from Bruce Springsteen to Lou Reed while consistently displaying an original vision. A big part of that originality is centered in Bisbee's lyrical facility, and a considerable part of that facility is genuine wit, a far too rare commodity among contemporary songwriters.

Leona Naess, one of my favorites among the recent crop of new female singers, adds her voice to Bisbee's on a pair of tracks, and various other friends and admirers join his basic trio in various places, but this is primarily a vehicle for Bisbee's voice and songs, which have been locked up in the music biz strange loop of demos and development deals for the best part of a decade. He's finally escaped the trap, patched together 14 excellent tracks in a half a dozen studios and found a sympathetic indie label to get his music on the shelves. It's up to you to get it off the shelves and into your ears where it belongs.

Track List:

Miracle Car * Shake Me * Cubicle Love Song * Underage * Flower * Ride 'em Mower * I Will Wait * Bucket Seat * Molecules * Gasoline * Sex And Drugs O'Rama * The Simplest Of Pleasures * Miracle Car (reprise) * Dubster

© 2002 - Shaun Dale