Well THE first thing I will say is that the production on this CD is crisp clean and well done. Punchy drums and bass throughout give a solid foundation for this blues/rock set of material that never strays too far from the genre, but having said that, is nevertheless very entertaining.

Some general impressions are: the hooks are well thought out. The lyrics are more than your average themes, touching on spiritual, on love, on traveling, and moving on.

After skimming through this disk briefly, track 7, Yellow Moon, grabbed me, some great lyrics, excellent bass line that has a great feel , the lead guitar work, makes excellent use of the volume pedal, Tucker is a competent harmonica player as well.

The CD starts right off with Into the Light, a quick, fun romp, that sets the tone for the next couple of tunes, but for me, until track 3, Costa Mesa, I was ‘on the fence’ about the record. I think the addition of keyboards, played by Rutkowski, and set off by some tasty harmonica, had a bit of an Eagles vibe. A nice ballad that tells a story that gets you involved.

Great line, "she said nothing hurts when you’re dancin' feels like everything is gonna be all right." Well I can tell you that Wes Tucker is the main vocalist, and wrote all the songs. He has a somewhat limited vocal range, but he makes good use of it, his voice is pleasant and emotive. There are even some musical ‘nods’ stylistically to some early Guess Who (to these ears anyway). I have listened to this entire disk 3 times at this point; I am fond of track 8 as well, called Around My Way, also a fine love ballad.

Track 9, 'Wasted Worry' has some really funky rock, wah-wah laden dripping with honey; this is one of the better rockin’ tracks on here. Wes and the band, Bryan Washam, David Rutkowski, and Arch Alcantara break into a double-time rock stomp about half way through that takes you for a ride! I imagine this is a real ‘cooker’ live. It sounded like they didn’t want to stop on that one…

All around fun stuff.
The band members are all multi-instrumentalists, which add some variety in the approach to the songs. Tucker also features alone in a tune called Intertwined, on acoustic and voice, a nice change of pace that sets off the last track, Nothing Less, which also features keyboards played by Rutkowski. This is a fitting closer for a very fine recording.

The CD was recorded at Yellow House Studios in Arlington V, produced by Tim Hermes Tucker makes several references to his religious spiritualism in his credits, and lyrics.

Beauty in the Broken
Wes Tucker & The Skillets
© Copyright-Wes Tucker (ASCAP)
Record Label: Wes Tucker and The Skillets
Download Album (MP3) - $9.99
Buy CD - $10.00

Listen to Song Samples, Purchase CD and Purchase MP3 Downloadable Media Files
 / Into the Light / Casting Stones / Costa Mesa  / Bound to Rise  / Blind Mind  / Road to Zion  / Yellow Moon  / Around My Way  / Wasted Worry  / Intertwined  / Nothing Less / 

Conclusion
And the overall positive vibe that creates on this album makes a pleasant experience. I will listen to this again.

“She said nothing hurts when you’re dancin’ feels like everything is gonna be all right" I believe her. You may not dance, but you will at least tap your feet,

Want EvO:R to review your music?
It will be honest and above all, very interesting. All you need to do is send your CD to: