Black Swans, The / Don't Blame The Stars
Album: Don't Blame The Stars   Collection:General
Artist:Black Swans, The   Added:Jun 2011
Label:Misra Records  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2011-10-30 Pull Date: 2012-01-01
Week Ending: Jan 1 Dec 18 Dec 4 Nov 27 Nov 13 Nov 6
Airplays: 1 2 1 2 1 1

Recent Airplay
1. Dec 29, 2011: The Songsmith Show
Blue Bayou
4. Nov 27, 2011: Everything.
Blue Bayou
2. Dec 16, 2011: Kitty Cat
Sunshine Street
5. Nov 26, 2011: Music Casserole
Sunshine Street
3. Dec 15, 2011: The Songsmith Show
Worry Stone
6. Nov 24, 2011: The Songsmith Show
Blue Bayou

Album Review
MC Dizzy Jackson
Reviewed 2011-10-16
These guys are from Columbus, OH and play folky, indie, country, moody music with thought-provoking lyrics by lead man Jerry DeCicca. Mostly recorded in 2008, the album features band mate Noel Sayre playing violin, who, a few months after recording, died while swimming. His playing is sublime and this album would be quite different without his sound. Instrumentation of violin, guitar, bass, percussion, organ, harmonica. There are some spoken intros which are best played together with the next song. Some great things going on here. FCC on #4.

*My Favorites*: 1, 3, 7, 8, 12, 15.

1. *(1:52) Slow / Mid. Beautiful, mournful violin fronting a mellow, moodful, contemplative piece.
2. (0:20) Spoken intro to #3 about r&b singers, Joe Tex in particular.
3. *(4:06) Mid. Folky, country flair with great organ and an easy plodding drumbeat. Very nicely done. Paying tribute to Joe Tex.
4. (3:01) Slow / Mid. FCC.
5. (0:37) Tongue-in-cheek spoken dialogue about TV shows and himself.
6. (4:18) Mid. Upbeat with bright violin, congas, shakers, guitar.
7. *(2:37) Slow / Mid. Hollow harmonica intro. Ballad-type song about the speaker’s brother. Great atmosphere with the violin and acoustic guitar.
8. *(3:21) Mid. Rain and thunder intro, then upbeat driver with tambourine strikes, crunchy guitar, great violin and organ. Killer and with a great title. Yeah.
9. (0:23) Spoken about a trip to the doctor, rolling right in to next song. Best played back-to-back.
10. (5:30) Slow. Pick up from previous spoken piece. Mournful violin, slow, sparse drumbeat. Song about medicine. Pretty heavy stuff.
11. (0:33) Funny, heavy spoken piece about an encounter with a woman and a worry stone and his ensuing relationship with anther woman and what he did with the worry stone. Best back-to-back with next song.
12. *(2:37) Mid. Pick up from previous spoken piece. Harmonica, sparse plodding beat with tambourine strikes. Song about the worry stone with underwater gurgling. Just great.
13. (4:59) Mid. Country flair, easy going beat, heavenly violin. Nice.
14. (0:21) Funny spoken intro to next song.
15. *(3:21) Slow. Reverb organ, drawn-out violin. Beautiful.

Track Listing
1. Boo Hoo   5. I Forgot To Change The Windshield Wipers In My Mind
2. Don't Blame The Stars   6. Mean Medicine
3. Sunshine Street   7. Worry Stone
4. My Brother   8. Blue Bayou
  9. Little Things