Gary Dranow, like life in that famous movie quote, is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get—musically speaking, at least—bluesman, hard rocker, balladeer, wailing banshee, sensitive poet, or something totally new.
With“18, It’s All Right” it feels like many of those sonic guises have been rolled into one. It takes a dash of his harder rocking groove, but running at a calmer and more considered pace. Adds some of those deft bluesy licks. Just the right amount of pop-rock accessibility that gets songs like this favourites in more mainstream circles. Relatable lyrics, an anthemic chorus, a saucy swagger and a gentle but joyful groove. And when you do all that, you will have not only a brilliant overview of just some of the many things Gary does and does brilliantly, but also one helluva tune.
I guess Gary Dranow’s unsecondguessable ways come from the fact that he has mastered many styles and all manner of sounds. This means that he has so much to call on when composing, so many acoustic elements and musical building blocks from which to build his sonic architecture. And it is the way that he mixes and matches and moulds and melds all of these together that keeps his music both wonderfully fresh and wonderfully familiar.
Many artists are content with or perhaps limited to doing one thing, and they may do it well, but their scope is limited, and they are forced to offer just variations on their tried and tested signature sound. Gary Dranow, however, is like a musical chameleon, constantly changing to fit every and any musical landscape he pictures in his mind.
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