Untold Music Cd

Dispatch - Untold

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Untold      Artist : Pete Francis      List Price : $13.98 USD        ProductGroup: Music      Release Date : 2003-06-17      Studio : Hollywood Records      Label : Hollywood Records      Avg. Customer Rating : (13 reviews)

Reviews Customer Reviews for Untold      Men & Flies      Rating:      Never having heard the band Dispatch, "Untold" looked interesting in the used CD bin. Rather than just popping out $3, I decided to check reviews here before buying. The reviews were mostly good. I like David Gray to whom Francis was compared; so I shelled out the cash. Francis' breathy vocal singing style is not completely unmusical, even if it seems emotionally distant. The part of the CD that fails most for me is the songwriting. The music isn't interesting. While Tim Pierce's electric guitar shines on the opening track "One Train," the music is dull and the lyrics are pedestrian, "The more that I try, I just know that you'll fly; I need you right now, but you're leavin'; I love you when you cry." Maybe that seems brilliant to Pete's mother, but it doesn't connect with me. The track "Julie" is truly awful. There is no detectable melody nor interesting arrangement; and again, the lyrics are strange, "Days without shadows the sun does not rise, a repetition of men and flies, Blue-lit runway has slipped away, unsteady room, light begins to play." Maybe it's a proposed theme song for "Project Runway." The title track is unremarkable except for the background vocals of Nadine LaFond. "Shake the Pain" has poor grammar in the lyric, "I'm burning burning; My love do grow." What's up with that? The only track that works for me is "Coal Miner" with its punchy guitar and Paul Tillotson's keyboards (Farfisa). "Motion lives in my soul; Gonna get me out of this hole," Francis sings hopefully. Unfortunately, the hole only gets bigger. Francis tries for the bad rhyme award, "In Sandcastle City all you have to do is seem pretty; Drivin' around with my girl Kitty." Francis concludes, "OK, I get it now, I don't know how I pulled off this one," Pete sings on one of the more interesting tracks. "Untold" would have been better going unsung. But here it is. It'll be a nice dust catcher on my musical shelf. Taxi!     Customer Reviews for Untold Cd      Glad I Waited To Review This Gift      Rating:      This cd took me about 8 months to truly appreciate. Then one day it just struck me and I couldn't stop listening to it. It is just amazing and beautiful. It first reminded me of a mellow Big Head Todd. It's so much more than that. It's worth the effort to get it all in. Don't pass this up. Editorial Reviews for Untold Audio Cd      Amazon.com      Apart from his regular gig, Dispatch singer/bassist Pete Francis comes off as a musical schizophrenic. Here he skips from the psychedelic prattle of Pink Floyd to the whimsy of Thelonious Monk to a full-out soul that would do Teddy Pendergrass proud, finally coming to some resolution with Van Morrison-like folk-rock. But Francis, who goes by the name Peter Francis Heimbold in his regular party-hearty band gig--has a way with words. Most of his lyrics are impressionist blots of repeating images, fragile characters, and Freudian symbols that fail to make a coherent narrative statement. Still, the musicianship is first rate. Jazz bassist Marty Ballou and percussionist Marty Richards cast a mighty rhythmic spell, providing inventive textures around Francis's sparse guitar work. --Jaan Uhelszki