Tim Morrow: Press
TIM MORROW - Back To Delton
Solo CD from member of The Shamus Twins, a favorite band here at Not Lame for some years now. While we wait for the new CD from ST, Tim Morrow’s disc will do just fine. It’s a disc firmly embedded in the sounds of the 70s in a very pleasing, endearing and engaging way. There’s a bit of the country-side laid back charms of the first two McCartney solo albums, snippets of 70s country-rock when it went for the hit single on pop radio and I’d be willing bet the farm(that I own one) that he was a big Badfinger and Raspberries fan. The sounds of someone whose life was changed by the Beatles early on and continues to make music for generations enjoy. Please check out the soundbites below – they really best exemplify the quality here! Very Highly Recommended!
TIM MORROW - BACK TO DELTON
Super solid power pop release for 2008 from SHAMUS TWINS bassist and vocalist TIM MORROW!!! On this solo release Tim shows also what an excellent guitarist and vocalist he is. The disc contains 22 solid, enjoyable, reliable slices of pure power pop pie!!! Fans of the Rooks, Myracle Brah, The Goldbergs, Starbelly, and The Beatles...This is your ticket to power pop paradice!!! GRADE A
Back To Delton
Tim Morrow
Very cool and catchy solo release by this member of The Shamus Twins. Upon hearing Tim describe his musical influences - "My first memories of music was listening to my dads records of Fats Domino and Ray Charles and then when I was 11 along came 'Meet The Beatles' and I became hooked on the sounds they created as well as the rest of the British Invasion sounds like the Stones, Who, Kinks, DC5, Gerry and the Pacemakers and whoever else made a record. At the the same time I loved early Motown - Four Tops, Temptations, Supremes, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye", you get a real idea of where he's headed with this rootsy, earthy, guitar-filled, raw and ragged at times, garage pop effort! All the songs were written from 1999 thru 2006 with the exception of "Don't Leave Me Here" which dates back to 1979. Tim recorded 29 songs - 22 of which made the final cut for this release! Now that's value! A lot to swallow for sure, but well worth it - think of it as a two-fer! Vocally he reminds us a lot of KK fave Dan Jones. EXCELLENT!!!
Tim Morrow-Back to Delton. Back to Delton is solo debut of Californian Tim Morrow, who used to be one half of The Shamus Twins, a band that put out a fine disc in 2004 and have been featured on various Not Lame compilations. Here he offers up 22 - count 'em, 22 - tracks of Tom Petty-styled pop/rock, which also bring to mind artists like Rich McCulley and in the poppier moments, Bill Lloyd. Key tracks: "Yesteryear", "One Way Out", "You Better". CD Baby
TIM MORROW
Back To Delton (eigen beheer) is een solo-cd van Tim Morrow. Die kwalificatie solo-cd suggereert dat Morrow zijn muziek normaal gesproken in een andere hoedanigheid aan de man brengt. En jawel, Tim schijnt in een band te zitten: The Shamus Twins. Nooit van gehoord. Hoe dan ook, Morrow is een wat oudere man, geen jonkie in ieder geval, die begin jaren zeventig naar Los Angeles trok, om 33 jaar later solo te debuteren. Back To Delton refereert aan Morrows geboorteplaats in Michigan en op de hoes zien we hem met gitaarkoffer die tocht dan ook ondernemen. Morrows verlate debuut is een aantrekkelijke popplaat waarop hij powerpop met beatleske structuren vermengt met een soort rootsy pop die we ook kennen van iemand als Tom Petty. Opener en titelnummer knalt en rockt à la Drivin’ n Crivin’ en dan volgen er nog 21 nummers waarvan Car Radio, Running en Almost Christmas beslist toppers zijn. Echter, had ik Tim Morrow mogen adviseren dan had ik hem wel de raad gegeven strenger te selecteren en de plaat sterk in te korten. Dan houd je namelijk een dozijn sterke liedjes over. Nu is een speelduur van 73 minuten toch teveel van het goede. (Wiebren Rijkeboer)
Back To Delton is verkrijgbaar bij cdbaby.
giovedì 10 aprile 2008
Disco del Giorno 10-04-08: Tim Morrow - Back To Delton (2007; Britneil Music)
Tim Morrow è un esperto cantautore pop originario di Battle Creek, Michigan, da anni residente a Los Angeles. La sua lunghissima esperienza come compositore l'ha portato a registrare un infinito album d'esordio solista (22 pezzi!) che non cala mai di tono, ma anzi rimane solido e gradevole dall'inizio alla fine e questo è un grande merito, poichè tenere alta la tensione emotiva (e l'attenzione dell'ascoltatore) per un tempo totale di ottantasei minuti non è cosa facile.
Nella sua carriera, iniziata nei primissimi anni 7o, quando scriveva i primi pezzi di proprio pugno, Tim ha suonato in alcune bands: gli USS ("perchè aveva lo stesso effetto del nome YES...") quando ancora viveva nel Michigan, ma si può dire che abbia iniziato a suonare seriamente solo una volta trasferitosi nel Golden State. E' li, infatti, che incontra colui che negli anni diventerà il suo "partner" favorito: Jerry Juden, con il quale forma una band chiamata Most, un progetto che per qualche anno suona con una certa continuità nei dintorni di L.A. Ma l'esperienza più significativa e soddisfacente Morrow la vive da quando, nel 1996, ritrova Juden e forma gli Shamus Twins, grandioso terzetto powerpop il cui (per ora) unico ed omonimo album uscito nel 2004 è uno dei grandi dischi neo-vintage degli ultimi quattro anni.
Oltre a suonare il basso e a cantare per gli Shamus Twins, Tim Morrow negli ultimi dieci anni ha scritto una trentina di canzoni, ventidue delle quali sono appunto finite su Back To Delton, il suo esordio da solista. Come dicevo prima, pur avendo l'estensione temporale di un doppio LP, il disco è infarcito di canzoni così gradevoli e da melodie così accattivanti da non scadere mai in qualcosa che si avvicini alla noia. Inoltre, avendo così tanti pezzi "a disposizione", l'autore ha potuto mostrare la propria innegabile capacità di scrivere grandi brani visitando parecchie sfaccettature della pop music, anche se ovviamente l'influenza powerpop è quella che si fa sentire con più forza e i fans di Beatles - chiaro - e di Rooks, Raspberries e Red Kross vari troveranno pane per i loro denti. Senza dimenticare che anche i maniaci di Tom Petty, almeno in qualche frangente, si divertiranno parecchio.
Back To Delton è lungo e per questo difficile da analizzare in toto, ma gli highlights sono talmente tanti che vale la pena di citare solo quelli! Il disco parte con la title-track, un brano che ricorda una versione hardcore proprio di Tom Petty (un'impressione che torna anche ascoltando Writing Lullabies e Do We Need A Miracle). Ma sono i brani più strettamente powerpop a banchettare a piacimento. Car Radio, una delle vette del disco, ricorda alcune tra le migliori cose dei Rooks e Running il miglior Andy Bopp con i suoi Myracle Brah. Grandi brani come You Better (altro highlight clamoroso) e She's Not Gonna Like It sono chiari e riusciti omaggi al regno dei primi Beatles, che piaceranno particolarmente a chi fosse rimasto colpito da Under The Radar dei Goldbergs, recensito su questo blog due settimane fa. She Knows Where She's Going è un numero tra i preferiti del sottoscritto, ricordando in maniera plateale proprio il suono degli Shamus Twins e aggiungendo un non so che di Redd Kross che si sente sempre meno spesso, ma che fa sempre particolarmente piacere ascoltare. La ballata "americana" Almost Christmas e gli accenni pseudo-psichedelici di Give It sono due riusciti esempi della poliedricità di Morrow, ma il brano migliore del disco credo sia Slow Things Down, dove un ritornello zuccheroso ma non melenso è l'epicentro di un incontro perfetto tra la ballata di Paul McCartney, le potenti melodie di Eric Carmen e l'inconfondibile cantato di Robert Harrison.
Sono dischi come Back To Delton (edito dalla Britneil Music nel 2007) che mi fanno pensare che sarebbe cosa buona e giusta aspettare Giugno prima di compilare la classifica dei migliori dischi dell'anno precedente. E non fatevi spaventare dalla sua longhezza, piuttosto prendetelo come fosse un doppio ed ascoltatelo in due volte separate, anche se vi garantisco che difficilmente - una volta messo nel lettore - riuscirete a toglierlo per prendervi una pausa.
Hot New Music Spotlight
Tim Morrow
Our next artist, Tim Morrow, was born in 1952 in Battle Creek, Michigan where he was raised in the country outside a small town called Delton. For Tim, he enjoyed life's simplest pleasure while growing up on the lake; playing ball and going to school. Tim's musical influences were the stuff that his dad would listen to including Fats Domino and Ray Charles. But what really set Tim off was the Beatles. With the British invasion led by the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Kinks, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Dave Clark 5 and Hermans Hermits, Tim knew he wanted to be a part of the music industry. The rest as they say is history.
Here is a recent interview that Tim completed with our online publication, and I think you will enjoy the outcome.
Isaac: Thanks for taking the time to speak with our online magazine. Let's talk about how you first got your start. You were born in Battle Creek, Michigan. Expound a little about your upbringing and would lead you to want to perform.
Tim: I was raised in the country in Michigan. My dad worked on the railroad and my mom stayed at home taking care of the kids and house. I had 2 brothers Cal who was older and Jim who was younger and sister Janis as well and she was the baby. I first remember listening to some Ray Charles and Fats Domino records that my dad had and I thought those were great. And then the Beatles came along and I remember seeing them on the Ed Sullivan TV show in Feb 64 and I thought it was really cool watching people sing and play music and how people reacted to it. I didn't really think about performing at that time but I was in love with music from that point on and when I was 17 I finally got a guitar and started to learn the basic chords. I also started to find little melodies to sing over that and that's how I became a songwriter and then I had to play them for someone so that is how I ended up performing.
Isaac: How would you describe your music?
Tim: I would describe it as Power Pop/Rock with a dash of country and folk mixed in. The great band Traffic led by Stevie Winwood had a song called Rock and Roll Stew. Rock and Roll Stew would be an accurate description for my music.
Isaac: What kinds of music are you influenced by?
Tim: Lots of different music. Mainly the 60's music that I grew up with from The Beatles and Beach Boys to Motown to Neil Young and into the 70's and Led Zeppelin, Yes, and Steely Dan. Ray Charles and Fats Domino and the Everly Brothers were big influences as well.
These days I think there is a lot of fabulous music as well and in particular I like Amy Winehouse who I feel is one of the greatest voices ever as well as Coldplay, Maroon 5, and John Mayer. I could go on but I won't.
Isaac: What can fans expect from the release of your new solo CD?
Tim: A bunch of good songs that I hope will deserve more than one listen. I am proud of the music on "Back To Delton". I crammed quite a few tunes on there but I had been gathering the songs for quite awhile and wanted to release as many as I could. The original idea for the album was to do a double album but being indie costs come into focus and I decided to nix that idea and go with one CD with 22 songs on it. I actually recorded 29 and I had to leave 7 in the can for a later date.
Isaac: You have had a ton of experiences including guitar for acoustic Rock band called USS kind of like Yes. How has that experience and others like that one helped you as a solo artist?
Tim: USS was an acoustic trio I was in back in Battle Creek, Michigan in the early 70's. We were acoustic and we rocked it up pretty good. I was in a period then that Yes was heavily influencing me and the other 2 guys in the band Jay Hill and the late Marty Hunter. Jon Anderson was one of my favorite singers and Steve Howe likewise on guitar and they were both from Yes. So we didn't sound anything like that but we liked them so much that we called the group USS with just 3 letters like Yes.
I also played in a group The Most when I came to California from about 1976 to 1980 and then The Shamus Twins from 1996 to 2007. I played bass in both groups with the fabulous Jerry Juden who is still at the helm of the Shamus Twins. He is the best musician I have ever played with and a great friend. The Shamus Twins released a self titled CD in 2004 and that got a lot of good reviews and even made Southern Californian rock impresario David Bash's top 100 list that year which was a great honor.
Sorry to take so long to get to the point here. Playing in both those groups and just being around some really good musicians gave me the confidence that I now have to be able to carry on as a solo artist.
Isaac: How do you feel about the music industry today and about being an Indie artist in general?
Tim: The industry has totally changed from when I grew up. Back then the only way you could get heard was to be signed by a label and hope that you could sell enough records to build a career and make a living doing music. A lot of talented people never got heard. Today with the technology of the Internet there is a chance for everyone to get heard if they want and for an older musician like me it is awesome to be able to make music and have places such as CD Baby and iTunes and Juniors Cave to let people know I'm out there if anyone is interested in my music.
Isaac: What do you feel that you will bring differently to music?
Tim: To be honest Isaac, I don't think I am bringing anything different. Just some good music that I hope my friends and fans will enjoy and enjoy enough to tell their friends about it.
Isaac: What are some other projects that you are working on now?
Tim: The only other project I am working on right now is just trying to survive this game of life.
Isaac: Where can fans locate you on the Internet?
Tim: I can be found at www.timmorrow.net and at www.myspacemusic.com/timmorrowmusic
Isaac: Give some shout-outs to your family, friends, and fans.
Tim: Thanks to my family especially my wife Crystal for putting up with my musical endeavors all these years and thanks to my son Neil and daughter Brittney. Oh yeah my mom Joyce Cabiness in Lake Worth, Florida and dad Oliver Morrow and stepmom Jane in Battle Creek, Michigan.
Isaac: Final words....
Tim: Thank you Isaac for taking the time to talk to me and doing what you do. I appreciate the work you do. Take care.
Tim Morrow