Curious Fools
Electric Soul
Reviewed by Brian Vincent McGovern
Complete with the trademark harmonies you heard on Read, Stephen Murray & Co. have finally released its follow-up. Still at the top of the pile production-wise, the smooth grit of Murray's voice comes across clearly from the first note. This first song, "Top of the World," is a scary foreshadowing of the rest of the disc. While much of Read portrayed a few more melancholy aspects of the human emotional spectrum, Electric Soul is, shall we say, happier. Lyrics like "If I stand, if I fall, I'm still on top of the world" remind me of artists like 4 Him and Point of Grace. While, thankfully, the music has not sunken to that level, there isn't exactly a punch in the gut here either. Even though most songs have adequate soul and obvious emotion - a Curious Fools requirement - the entire album is at least thinly coated with a polish, perhaps, of the Nashville variety. Besides for the reason of Murray's deft vocal talents, I have always loved this band for their amazing guitar tones, and songwriting competence. "The Other Side" could be a neat throwback to a certain bullfrog known as Jeremiah, with it's snazzy classic rock guitar, but it also has a few neat effects, like some voice box singing. Read Is still one of my all-time favorite albums, but I cannot hand over that honor to Electric Soul so easily, due to the slick layers of CCM pop.