Rhyolite

Editorial Reviews
Tom Toth, The Bohemian Embassy, October 20, 2002
"Rhyolite" is an important new contribution to American pop music - and to American folklore and mythology as well."

Sue MacPhee, The City Paper, July 10, 2002
"E.J. is the best kept secret in the industry...but not for long..."

Album Description
Tales of the Wild West set to pop music, with a few unexpected (and creepy) surprises. The term Wells himself uses to describe this album is "gothic-neo-spaghetti-western-mood-o-billy."

Rhyolite

Average customer rating:

New Sickness
Dave Hudson
Manufacturer: Rhyolite Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Folk | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000CAF4S6
Release Date: 2001-05-08

Tracks:

Correspondence
Bitter Wind
Wrong Station
New Sickness
Samson in Duluth
Strong Water
Only Miracle
Baptism
Little Piece of Heaven
Boxcar Saints
Bed of Rifles
Someone Like You
I Went Down
Anymore Tonight

Average customer rating:

Enough About Me

Manufacturer: Rhyolite Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000GABN14

Average customer rating:

Honest. Open. Universal.
Comparisons abound!
Relates to everyone.
Intelligent, classic rock for the new millennium
It's Everything I'm Feeling

Ghosts & Angels
Darby Darl
Manufacturer: Rhyolite Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Folk Rock | Folk | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0007VN90U
Release Date: 2005-02-22

Tracks:

At the Mention of Your Name
Pulling Angels Off the Wall
You Better Find Somebody to Love You
Keep On Trying
The Bed You Made
Nobody But Myself to Blame
Welcome to the Big Picture
Mama Tell Me One More Time
Down That Line
Ghost Train

Customer Reviews:

Honest. Open. Universal........2005-11-09

As honest an album as I've heard in years. Superb lyrics. Distinct vocalization. Quality instrumentation. Ghosts & Angles spans genres and generations. By far, my favorite album of the year.

Comparisons abound!.......2005-06-01

It's unfortunate, but understandable, that reviewers of Darby Darl resort to comparing him with other, better-known musicians. Unfortunate because he deserves to be judged on his own merits, understandable because his music sounds so familiar.

The first time I listened to Ghosts & Angels I was struck by its easy familiarity. Here were songs I've heard hundreds of times on the radio--ballads by Petty, early snark from Stewart, lamentations according to Costello. I had to check the liner notes to make sure that the songs were originals and, you betcha, they are.

Darby has a gift for writing tunes that are instantly accessible and use the universally understood emotional conventions in both lyrics and music. However--bonus--his songs, although familiar, are at the same time unique. It's easy to compare him to Vaughn, Clapton and Earle, but you'd never *mistake* Darby for one of them. He's crafted a unique voice from a myriad of influences and, judging by his lyrics, a bit of being beaten about by life. So to the reviewer who called this album "...brooding Americana," I suggest you go listen to Jandek for a week or so and get back to us.

Every tune on the disc is well-crafted, not a clinker among them. The only reservation I have about the work is that the arrangements sound too alike, toning down the emotional arc of the album as a whole. But this is most likely a product of limited budget, certainly not limited skill.

Relates to everyone........2005-03-31

Ghost and Angels is a great CD. If you like Stevie Ray, Clapton, Springsteen, or Nugent you will love Darbie Darl. It is refreshing that there is an artist that still knows true Rock N Roll.

Intelligent, classic rock for the new millennium.......2005-03-08

Where has this guy been? If there's any justice, he's going straight to the top. It's rare for me to connect *immediately* to an artist, but I have not been able to put this CD down. Darby Darl is a unique combination of influences: Dylan, Springsteen and the Byrds come immediately to mind, with (get this) a touch of Motown cool and raw Steve Earle honesty. Jingle-jangle guitars, a beat you can dance to, and intelligent, confessional songwriting at its best. If you like Dylan's voice (and who doesn't?), you'll love Darby Darl's. An awesome effort. Five stars.

It's Everything I'm Feeling .......2005-02-26

Darby tears himself wide open and sings about things I find hard to express. I just sit back, crank it up, and let him do the talking for me. Great stuff.

Average customer rating:

Reverence

Manufacturer: Rhyolite Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000H7EFIO

Product Description

Fourteen track CD from this singer-songwriter in the Tom Waits mold, but with a much less gravelly voice. From 1996. Rhyolite Records. Dave Hudson (vocals, Percussion, banjo, Accordian, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Rhythm Guitar) Tommy Steinberg (Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Baritone Guitar, Banjo, Lap Steel, Bass) Justin Schwartz (Percussion) Jason Schwartz (Bass) 1. Matter of Conscience 2. Rinky Dink Man 3. We Do Us 4. The Ballad of the Jelly Man 5. I Don't Know You From Jane 6. Monkey in the Manifold 7. Rock Pile 8. Rattle and Moan 9. Pthalo Blues 10. Altar Goats and Anvils 11. Jazz in My Piano 12. Keep the Sky 13. Down in the Mud 14. Impala

Average customer rating:

Unique and Wonderful
Old scenes viewed through a new lens
wannabe country
Chip Kinman's Review of Rhyolite

Rhyolite

Manufacturer: Ruin
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Country | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Alternative Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music

General | Country | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00007BK03
Release Date: 2002-10-31

Tracks:

Rhyolite
Motherlode
Blood on the Moon
Pursued
Shortstack and a Longneck
Keep Searchin' (We'll Follow the Sun)
Moonrise
Cemetery Man
Downstairs at the Funeral Home
Rising Sun
Trail to Hell
The Undertaker's Lament
Last Ride

Album Description

Tales of the Wild West set to pop music, with a few unexpected (and creepy) surprises. The term Wells himself uses to describe this album is "gothic-neo-spaghetti-western-mood-o-billy."

Customer Reviews:

Unique and Wonderful.......2004-10-08

This is amazing stuff. The whole CD is terrific, start to finish.

By the way, the review by "a music lover" seems to be about a totally different album. Bar fights? Pickup trucks? The majority of this album is a dark pastiche of the old west. Tragedy, revenge and murder feature strongly in these songs.

But the whole experience isn't dark and depressing. There are a few amusing exceptions, like the sly, almost-parody "Motherlode," and the delightful, morbidly bouncy pop tune "Downstairs at the Funeral Home," which could be an unoffical theme song for HBO's "Six Feet Under."

Interesting subject matter aside, this is just excellent music. Is it traditional country? Nope. It's outside ordinary pigeonholed musical categories (which is probably what befuddled the so-called Music Lover's poor little teeny brain). Is it country-rock? Alt-country? Gothabilly? Who knows? Who cares? It's great stuff. Buy it. Support excellent independent music. (Not you, Music Lover. You can go back to your Billy Ray Cyrus, and leave the good stuff for the rest of us.)

Old scenes viewed through a new lens.......2004-02-14

E.J. Wells's debut CD, "Rhyolite", is a marvelous set of highly atmospheric, original material with a strongly "Western" theme. During the "Western" boom of the '50s and early '60s, that genre was well-represented on TV, in the movies, and in song. But you won't find any reassuring traces of Roy and Gene and their pals here ; E.J. Wells has fashioned a very moody, "edgy" piece of work that likely is a lot closer to the truth than the celluloid version. There's nary a weak moment on this disc, as Wells reveals himself to be both a fine songwriter and a crack musician. Wells's sparkling originals are complemented by a rockin' take on the Del Shannon classic "Keep Searchin' (We'll Follow the Sun)". An impressive debut !

wannabe country.......2003-01-31

One star is for the fact that it has a case that I can use for other CDs... I ordered this based on the other review and am sorely disapointed... this is just more singersongwriter yuck about barfights and lost loves and pickups that has been done 50000 times by others and almost all of it was better.

Unless you need to listen to someone imatating a bad genre and purging themselves of all the crap that anyone with a car and a roadmap of the southwest could experience for themselves, go out and buy something that actually contains music and art that come from the soul, not from someone trying to imitate a sound they dig.

Chip Kinman's Review of Rhyolite.......2002-12-01

Western music is strange. It had it's heyday in the 30's, and has not been commercially viable since the late 50's (e.g. "El Paso" by Marty Robbins.) It is now a genre populated by failed country singers, folkies, and hobbyists.
E.J. Wells has done something remarkable. He has released a new album that is at once modern, AND evokes the old west...no small trick. Western music has always been a blend of sounds and traditions, and "Rhyolite" carries this blend to new and thrilling heights- with an ingenious mix of folk, glitter rock, Mersey beat, spaghetti, surf and...Pink Floyd-esqe atmospherics!!!???!!! I love this record. It works best as a set piece...listen to it all the way through. And I mean LISTEN to it. It will take you somewhere dry, dusty, and dangerous. The songs also work individually...RHYOLITE, BLOOD ON THE MOON, CEMETERY MAN, RISING SUN, UNDERTAKER'S LAMENT...WOW!!!!! An essential record by one of the best. Buy it....nuff said?

-10/31/02 by Chip Kinman, founding member of Rank and File, Blackbird, and Cowboy Nation

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