Ben Kenney - Burn the Tapes
by Dan MacIntosh
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Ben Kenney's, who plays bass for Incubus and once was a guitarist with The Roots, has just released his fourth solo album, Burn the Tapes. And while the playing is topnotch throughout, it's tough to get emotionally attached to Kenney's songs.
Works like "The Kibosh", with its clipped guitar notes and complicated time signatures, may remind you of King Crimson at their progressive rock best. But this 10-song set is a lot of quality musicianship, mainly matched to unmemorable songs. There are few lyrical lines to really hang on to.
There is a cool little reggae song called "Heemtro", and it would have been nice to hear Kenney expand on that one a little bit more. The best track of all, in fact, may be this disc's least guitar-oriented recording. "Ishmael" is infused with plenty of acoustic piano and comes off really pretty.
There are times when musicians take solo turns, and suddenly their more personalized music is viewed as a true revelation. Kenney's Burn the Tapes is not such a new revelation, however. Kenney's voice might be a big part of this music's general relative anonymity. He sings a little bit like Adrian Belew � another sideman turned front man, by the way � and like Belew, his instrumental work far outshines his vocal chops. He has one of those crystal-clear prog rock voices; one that is oftentimes a little too pretty to sound real.
No, don't do anything drastic, like Burn the Tapes. But match this guy up with a few singers and songwriters the next time so he can be a complimentary player, rather than running the show. Unless, of course, you're a guitar geek; in that case you're probably loving this disc and fixing to burn this CD reviewer at the stake, instead.
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Ben Kenney - Burn the Tapes
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