Top CDs of 2009, Part IV
Breaking off from his homebase of the Felice Bros., Simone Felice took something of a gamble on this duo effort with Robert Burke. Naming their collaboration after a pair of river-bound rapscallions in Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, the folk/pop work here is as gorgeous and flowing as the Mississippi, starting with the plaintive opener “If You Ever Get Famous.” There are too many highlights here to piece them out, but let’s say one of our favorite songs is still the spacer “Lose My Self;” it breaks the gorgeous pace set here, and is fantastic in and of itself. Throughout this album are some of the most delicate and emotional melodies sung this year, with fantastic lyrics, far surpassing his work with the Felice Bros. If this first album “Nothing Gold Can Stay” is a sign of things to come, then we’ll have plenty of gold from him for time to come. (And feel free to read our earlier review over there to the left.) Highly recommended.
Listen to “If You Ever Get Famous”: www.myspace.com/453173424, Top CDs of 2009 playlist