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reviews
Netrhythms.co.uk Having listened to, and been captivated by, the previous 9 albums, it's difficult to be completely objective about The Sorentino's latest, Volume 10. But on balance it may just be the best of the lot. As a band they are drum tight, long years on the road and in the studio have left their playing almost instinctive and while songwriter Danny Sorentino already has a legacy to be proud of , here he has written a 'complete' album. It's also nice to note that the band's two 'love affairs' remain strong, although these twin 'paramours' have never been particularly secret loves. The band has long professed its admiration for all things UK and Ray Davies Day is a wonderful affirmation. The other 'love' is with song-led, guitar driven rock n roll. As with most of the band's songs, nothing on Volume 10 requires too much analysis. It's not that they are simplistic or superficial, Danny Sorentino has always been an incisive writer and experience has merely honed that ability, it's more that the tracks are clear-eyed. Sorentino plunders his life - and you suspect that of those around him - for inspiration with the ferocity of a Viking. Surely only he could conjure a song and almost make a virtue out of the kind of debts we all face every month and then go on to fashion a superb 50s rock n roll pastiche out of a love for guitars. It's almost impossible to overstate the long and sometimes troubled route that has brought the band to its 10th album. None of its members are in the first flush of youth, all have had wider success dangled in front of them, only to see it unjustly snatched away, many have come, gone and come again - being a Tino may not be easy but it's for life - and most , if not all have day jobs. Forget the Hollywood recording locations and Grammy award winning producer, this is working rock in its truest sense. Paradoxically, the band's unsuccessful flirtations with wider fame and fortune has left it free to continue to make the kind of down to earth music that gets the juices flowing and free to take quintessentially West Coast rock, the Tom Petty reference on Seventeen is no accident, let it run free and see where it leads. The thumping Gone, for example is a tribute to The Sorentinos unbreakable spirit. There will be more lauded albums released in 2007, undoubtedly there will be albums that will earn cash by the bucketload. But there will not be many that remain so true and close to what rock n roll should be, touching your soul, raising a smile and striking a chord. It is by those criterion that Volume 10 should be judged. It may be that the single greatest thing about Volume 10 is that you could lift it straight out of the studio, stick it in a bar, stadium or theatre and play it whole. Danny Sorentino's insight grows by the year, whether it be life, love or just the fact that getting older sucks. Sometimes he drives it home with a riff, at other times a caustic lyric is enough but time and time again the band nails it. However, the influences of Messrs Lee, Ruiz, Vatcher and Susan are vital. Collectively they push and prod what is brought to the table and extract every last drop from it. The result is an album that is joined at the hip with the people listening to it. If you want hear grassroots rock n roll listen to Volume 10, then go out and buy the band's back catalogue and find out how it got this good. | ||
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Maverick Magazine / UK - March 2003 and Netrhythms.co.uk Danny Sorentino – Four Chord Wonders (The Major Label) I think it's time to tell the truth. No matter how much Danny Sorentino affects an American accent or claims to come from across the pond, he has to be British. Four Chord Wonders is the proof, at times it's positively waspish. It's not just the title of the album, it's not just the sleeve which sees him studying a 'How to write songs for guitar' book, they are obviously tongue-in-cheek. What does it for me is the injection of acid wit throughout the album. It starts with the opening track, Sensitive Singer Songwriter 'James Taylor got Carly Simon, cos he's really good at rhymin' sounds almost childlike in its simplicity. Add Sorentino's wry cynicism and the song becomes something completely different. As with any great storyteller you're never quite sure how much is meant to be taken literally. Although Sorentino colleagues, Steve Lee, Kenny Susan, Russ Kerger and Rob Ruiz all appear, this is a solo album. It's Sorentino's personal hit list and the scores are settled in full. I am tired of all the Tom Petty references when describing Sorentino's music, I would be willing to bet he is as well. Yes it's guitar-based, yes it's basically laconic country-rock. But it's stripped back and real, judge it on its own merits. It's People I Can't Stand speaks for a gender. There will not be a man in the land who has not stood in a supermarket queue and said to himself, 'it says ten items or less' as somebody unloads 25 tins of beans on to the conveyor belt. Gentlemen, this is your moment. I believe in peace and harmony and the brotherhood of man as much as the next bloke but enough's enough. However the targets Sorentino seeks out like a laser, are not all as straightforward. Daddy Nicotine superficially a dark and sleazy warning, leaves the nagging feeling that there is a hidden, more intimate reality to it. It makes the song all the more chilling. With the best will in the world you couldn't describe Four Chord Wonders as a happy album, sardonic definitely. But even when we see the gentler side of Danny Sorentino, on Carry Me and A Good Day Now it is all presented with a world-weariness. Categorizing Danny Sorentino as a very good rock musician, is true but only half the story. Anyone who has listened to The Sorentinos will know that when you get a Danny Sorentino song you get a slice of the man himself. It's powerful, it's compelling and you can't help but go back time and time again. Four Chord Wonders has the same effect. more reviewsThe Sorentinos' The End Of The Day (The Major Label) is engaging, confident
rock midway between West Coast and country, often with a late-era Tom
Petty feel. On the evidence presented here, all that separates him from being a crossover
success is for one song to become a radio hit in his native California.
Hippie On The Inside, a three-minute pop song with a killer guitar hook,
is the most likely to do that from this set. The Sorentinos have their own recipe for universal happiness: wonderful
melodies with great hooks; gently rolling acoustic/electric rockers with
a certain Stones/Petty/Dylan/Willburyness about them; life and love songs
with lyrics - always witty and cleverly observed and sometimes very, very
funny. THE SORENTINOS - The End Of The Day have done their best CD to date...Easily...
This album is a must for all Tom Petty lovers around the globe. Take a
look at the band at www.thesorentinos.com because these guys are worth
all your attention. A big freekin' bravo guys! The first two tracks "Wonderboy" and "What You Leave Behind"
set the tone, but it's track three "Here Today" which begins
a rush of guitar-driven country-rock type songs that really do sound superb
- it's the kind of album listening to it for the first time where every
time you think you've found the best track, another one comes along and
tips the balance firmly down on the side of quality. Yet with 17 tracks,
there's quantity as well without the tracks ever falling prey to the everything-sounds-the-same
syndrome. From almost the first note of the new Sorentinos album, it's absolutely astonishing just how much the band and in particular Danny Sorentino sound exactly like Tom Petty - not just the drawly vocals but the guitars, the chord changes, the songs themselves - everything. It's a good job then that the Sorentinos, far from coming across as a cheap immitation of Petty and the Heartbreakers, come into their own by the virtue of having a fantastic sound coupled with great songs, songs which you realise, as the album goes on, are actually a lot better than anything Petty's produced in recent years. The first two tracks "Wonderboy" and "What You Leave Behind" set the tone, but it's track three "Here Today" which begins a rush of guitar-driven country-rock type songs that really do sound superb - it's the kind of album listening to it for the first time where every time you think you've found the best track, another one comes along and tips the balance firmly down on the side of quality. Yet with 17 tracks, there's quantity as well without the tracks ever falling prey to the everything-sounds-the-same syndrome. Bob Harris loves them to bits - If you enjoy Petty or the Wilbury's,
you must own this album. Take 'The End Of The Day' new CD by The Sorentinos, a liberal quantity
of Tequila Sunrises which we'll christen Tequila Sunsets in honour of
the album (1 measure Tequila, 4 measures orange juice, 2 dashes Grenadine/ice
cubes, slice of orange/maraschino cherry) - you'll put on your dancing
shoes, I'll unpack my superlatives and let's have a party with some of
the very best 'feel-good' music out of West Coast America. Unfortunately,
you can't buy it till September, so you'll have to come round to my house,
OK! The Sorentinos have built a devoted and deserved following amongst lovers of great music on both sides of the Atlantic. Danny Sorentino, songwriter extraordinaire/lead vocal/guitar/harmonica; Rob Ruiz, bass/background vocals with style and attitude; Steve Lee, classy electric/acoustic 6 and 12 string guitars (and London resident); Kenny Susan, drums, background vocals, percussion, are the core Sorentinos. Russ Kerger, organ and piano joins them for all tracks on this album. It's a joyful blend of wonderful songs and great musicianship - seventeen tracks - and there's no dead wood anywhere. It's a f***ing forest of impossible-to-resist goodies! So, whilst you're waiting for The End Of The Day and September, when
Danny & Steve will be touring in the UK (full band in November), there're
six other Sorentinos albums to help you through the Summer... at the end
of the day there's the music and you know you need it. Do yourself a favour
and buy a couple now. Sorted!
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