Ralphy's C.D. Reviews

Review date 03-11-1998: Tonic - C.D. Lemon Parade

Tonic is a quartet that started in the music scene around 1993 when childhood friends Emerson Hart (vocals) and Jeff Russo (guitars) joined up with bass-player Dan Rothchild and drummer Kevin Shepard. On their debut-album Lemon Parade, released in 1996, you can still hear Rothchild, who since then has been replaced by Dan Lavery.

On the album 12 songs are presented of which, in my humble opinion, at least 11 rock ("Thick" is no more than an average rock-song). The music of Tonic features distinctive steel guitars, elaborate texture and well-composed and written songs, mostly by Hart and Russo. Here in The Netherlands I first noticed them when their first single "If you could only see" (still one of the best songs) got some (but not too much) airplay on Dutch radio. Later on they starred in a t.v.-program called "2 meter sessions" (the presenter is almost 2 meters tall, hence the title) in which music performers play their music live in a small studio, often unplugged. From that t.v.-show I remembered "Open up your eyes" the second single and also the melodious style of Tonic, but at that time it (unfortunally) did not lead me to buy the C.D.

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Well two years later in an e-mail music discussion with an American girl the name Tonic surfaced again, when she mentioned some of her favourite bands. When I went into a music shop later that week, looking for another album, I also found myself searching for the Tonic-CD. There was one album available in the whole city and after listening to some incredible intro's I bought it. I consider it one of the best buys I made in 1998 and it seems to find it's way back to my CD-player everytime.

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The album starts incredibly with the 2 above mentioned melodious songs and in between "Casual affair" which really is more representative of their rockin' style. Although not all of their songs have such hard and gripping substance, it is what I initially remarked about the album compared to my earlier Tonic-experiences. After those first 3 songs some more "softer" songs come along which really grow on you. Their names "Soldier's daughter" and the titlesong "Lemon Parade" which is about an ugly-duckling girl, that's thrown at with lemons (duh), but grows up to be a beautiful woman. These are the kind of texts you can expect (and enjoy) in Tonic-songs. Up-tempo "Celtic agression" is about Emerson Hart's Irish roots and the final song on the CD "My old man" explores the disappointment about a fathers dis- and reappearance, I believe. Other highlights on the album are "Mr. Golden Deal" and "Mountain", maybe my personal favourite. In between there's also the the short rocker "Bigot sunshine" and "Wicked soldier", not the best song on the album, but some musicians would be fortunate to write music like that. All in all the CD deserves at least an 8.5 on a scale of 0 to 10.

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