While most of the commercial music seems to promote trends over great thematic content in the current generation, Songs From the Heart Volume 1 by Ed Daniels and Collaborations is a work that reminds us still of the timelessness of the genuine heart of songwriting and musicianship. This album, featuring eleven tracks recorded in Stratford, Connecticut, was directed by Vic Steffens and orchestrated by Matt Oestreicher. It is a revival of the rich musical heritage of the 60s, 70s, and 80s-a blend of nostalgia mixed with freshness at the same time. Such collective effort brings together a variety of indie artists through intense tracks that extend out and touch your heart.
Songs From the Heart Volume 1 is a conscious sense of collaboration. Ed Daniels, the mastermind behind the project, lays down a backdrop for each tune, theme, and musical direction that permits the guest artists to infuse those moments with their emotional expressions and creativity. The result is an album that is plenty coherent and extremely diverse, making some chasms between folk, rock, soul, and classic pop.
One of the high points of this album is storytelling. Each song has its weight of meaning love, pressure, social consciousness, to personal contemplation. The co-writers and vocalists-Anais Preller, Suzanne Kiss, Heather Joseph, Carla Zipa, Sylvia Jones, Sheila Fabrizio, Vita Rose Taytro, Bonnie Lee Panda, and Alex Bach-have easily brought all their grand lyrical lines and vocal techniques to put forth an album that reeks exclamatory of authenticity.
It is an exquisite gallery of instrumental musicianship in Songs From the Heart Volume 1, with powerhouse performances from The Collaborations Band, featuring music industry veterans Bobby Torello, Scott Spray, Al Ferrante, Jon Peckman, Tim DeHuff, Bill Holloman, and Dave Eggar, commendably technical but emotionally saturated performance-wise. The arrangements are lush-the term should encompass more a general form of richness, and care taken to avoid overproduction leads to shining through the raw beauty-both from the singers and songs themselves is a point of consideration to find the right phrasing, yet full heed paid by the ensembles on contradistinction with shades of the inherent stoicism of this pairing of ages. The instrumentation creates the perfect setting for that evocative delivery that finds much diversity within itself in strings and pots of guitars.
Though, in production value, the album is made great by Vic Steffens and Matt Oestreicher, who see detailing with an accuracy that is taut and close to naturalistic sound. The record, with its very personal atmosphere, draws a very clear essence of live performance into the music.
In a world where music can sometimes seem disposable, Songs From the Heart Volume 1 brings it back to the feeling of being shaken, inspired, and connected. Every song is an expression in and of itself. It is an affirmation of creativity, teamwork, and musical traditions that will last for a lifetime. This album is a definite must-listen.
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