Reviews
Araluen Folk Festival 2004
Pink and White Bridge
at the Araluen Folk Festival October 2004 ~ Review by Marie Rayner
“For me the stars of the weekend were local group Pink & White Bridge. The
recipe for this group is to take some Crosby, Stills and Nash, add a dash of
America, toss in a liberal dose of Aussie twang and sense and you get this
talented trio. At their first appearance they played mainly new tunes “to see
how’d they work”, boys they WORKED.”
“The audience made sure with vocal encouragement that they knew the songs
worked. A couple of well received covers did not detract from a mainly original
set and served to demonstrate just how talented this trio is. I heard that they
mainly only play festivals and don’t really do gigs around town – lucky
festivals. I made sure I got a copy of their new CD ‘LongPlay’ and it is great
too! I was not alone in enjoying these boys and was told by two or three people
to make sure I mentioned just how good these guys are. I just hope that any
festival organizers who read this will grab these guys and show case their sound
and talent.” –
Groove Magazine
'The Long and
Winding Ode' by
Sylvester Fox page 31 Vol 1
Paul White,
winner of many songwriting awards over the years for his numerous cassette and
CD releases delivers his best yet. When he writes about the true passions in his
life Mr White truly shines. 'Little Wonder' is a beautiful lilting acoustic
guitar instrumental, opening the album with such breathtaking textures that one
hopes that track 2 will not destroy the vibe.
Luckily 'Cloudstreet' matches that intensity with a "moaning, stirring
feeling" and a set of lyrics and vocal harmonies to die for. 'Womanhood',
his ode to his loved one continues the belief systems of sweetness and light and
features some tasty Santana-esque guitar.
The title track 'On the Detour' makes use of an infectious bassline and sparse percussion to dramatic ends. 'Go Easy' is pure California with country harmonica and electric slide and its message to just relax. Two other instrumentals 'Deja Vu' and 'Cryptic Theme' reinforce the heartfelt nature of this album.
It's only when Paul stoops to conquer with sarcasm and vitriol in ' You Tonight' and Still Like the Summertime Blues' that things come unstuck. Hope this collection of songs sees the light of a national distributors day soon.
Nova Magazine
WA Edition
November 2003 Vol 10 No 9
Review by Phil
Bennett
Best known for his work with Pink and White Bridge, local veteran Paul White's new solo release has turned out just fine.
A lovely album of simple uncluttered songs, performed with commitment and prowess, it is marked by soulful vocals and a strong ear for laying down a song.
Very much a homegrown product, the feel is always human and White seems totally at ease grafting together the layers of musical overdubs and vocal harmonies.
His vocal directness which has more than a touch of the country blues shouter in it meshes particularly well with his bluesy jazz inflected guitar runs, especially on the groove driven numbers, like "You Tonight" and "Still like the Summertime Blues".
On the title track, the guitar textures take on a different role, creating a desolate highway of sound for the words to amble over, while "Come Morning" adds a dash of CSN&Y harmonies to a toe tapping acoustic blues fell courtesy of Anthony Bridge and Craig Pinkney.
The sleeve credits indicate that White plays all the instruments on most tracks - drums, bass guitars, organ, mouth organ - which in itself, is no mean feat, but the classy understated manner in which they're played is really quite extraordinary. Particularly on the three marvellous instrumentals, "Little Wonder", "Deja Vu" and "Cryptic Theme".
The fact that Paul White is a local boy is an added bonus because listeners also have the opportunity to catch him performing the songs live. Nice one.