Jack Caldwell – The Edge of the Beginning

Jack Caldwell – The Edge of the Beginning

www.jackcaldwell.com
www.myspace.com/jackcaldwell


In his latest release, Jack Caldwell manages to showcase a whole range of human emotion and still leaves room for his songs to breathe. The Edge of the Beginning is a simple album, and that’s what really makes it work.

Lyrically, Jack Caldwell says what he means and he does so in a way you don’t necessarily need a degree in English to understand. He successfully handles complex concepts, like love, loss and longing, without having to disguise them and their meanings in hyperbole and other fancy sounding words…like hyperbole.

Musically, Caldwell dances between genres such as Bluegrass, Country, Folk and Rock effortlessly and sometimes all at the same time.


A perfect example of this is Beginning’s opening track, Bye, Bye Baby with a simple classic rock beat and guitars with just a hint of dirt playing along with a pedal steel guitar and what sounds to be banjo followed up with a bridge featuring a sax solo that sounds like it would be at home on an early album from an unnamed New Jersey native.

Bye, Bye Baby is followed by Like A Bullet, a song full of wistfulness and longing…and a personal favorite. With Like A Bullet, Jack Caldwell is somehow able to capture that seemingly infinite moment in a relationship just before the dam breaks.

Most all the songs follow in a similar fashion, showing you little vignettes, like fading black and white photographs, of Jack Caldwell’s life. Put simply, there’s a lot of good material here.


Even with all that, I think my favorite part of The Edge of the Beginning is something that you may not even notice right away. There is a beautiful chemistry between the voices of Jack Caldwell and his background vocalist, Kelly Leahy-Radding. Their voices together give the songs on Beginning a presence that would be lacking were the vocal tracks his alone. I would be interested to hear a solo Leahy-Radding album…but I digress.

The Edge of the Beginning has the ability to conjure images and set a mood, which for me was much like a warm breeze blowing through a small town social on the fourth of July. It’s easy, it’s simple and it’s good.

If you’re interested in checking out The Edge of the Beginning and hearing what I’m talking about, you can do so by heading on over to CD Baby and searching Jack Caldwell,or you can just click here…

The Edge of the Beginning.


While you’re there, you can also listen to tracks from Jack’s previous release, As Sweet As I Remember You, or again, you can just click here…

As Sweet As I Remember You.


Now, I haven’t heard that one yet so you’re on your own, but judging from The Edge of the Beginning, I’d be willing to give it a shot. Pick up an album or two and drop by Jack Caldwell’s website and Myspace page and let him know what you think.