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Thursday, May 14, 2009

Review: Gene Fintz - Get A Grip On This


Gene Fintz - Get A Grip On This
2008, Gene Fintz

Gene Fintz is a musical jack-of-all-trades on Get A Grip On This, running through musical styles faster than Tyra Banks on a runway. Whether this is a testament to musical talent and pliability or to a lack of direction is up to the individual listener to decide. There's no doubt that the band is talented and supple, shifting gears easily from song to song and style to style. As a vocalist Fintz is passable, with a sound that works really well on some songs and less so on others. The title track, Get A Grip On This, leads off the album with a classic, R&B roots of Rock N Roll sound. The rest of the way through Fintz never stands still stylistically, whether it's Reggae (Piece Of The Pie), country (Too Much Of Texas), Bluegrass (In Some Small Way), 1960's rock (Home To You), rockabilly (Comfortable Shoes), Blues/Rock (Spittin' Pits) or a mix of genres. Too Much Of Texas is the highlight of the disc, featuring some killer slide guitar work, and Comfortable Shoes is highly entertaining. Everything is very well done musically, but there's no direction or cohesion to the album, meaning that album listeners may not be likely to stick with it all the way through.

Gene Fintz has created an album of stellar tunes that is perfect for the digital download age. Get A Grip On This is more a collection of songs than a cohesive album, and many listeners may stumble on the almost random stylistic variations that pervade the album. The band here is very good, and the songs well-written, while the vocals are average at best. I'd like to recommend this album, particularly to fellow musicians, but in the end I think the market for this one is narrow.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Gene Fintz at http://www.genefintz.com/ or www.myspace.com/genefintz. You can purchase a copy of Get A Grip On This at www.cdbaby.com/cd/genefintz.

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