{"id":139,"date":"2009-09-21T00:16:21","date_gmt":"2009-09-20T14:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cs-songs.com\/main\/?p=139"},"modified":"2012-01-29T17:37:43","modified_gmt":"2012-01-29T06:37:43","slug":"pieces-of-eternity-reviewed-by-rob-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cs-songs.com\/main\/?p=139","title":{"rendered":"Pieces of Eternity reviewed by Rob Smith!!!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>Rob was kind enough to have this in my inbox the DAY he got the CD!!! For a dude as busy on musak as El Robbo, that&#8217;s mightily appreciated by me I gotta say!! Much thanks brother!!!!!!!!!! <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"..\/..\/blog\/\/\/rsc\/smilies\/icon_biggrin.gif\" alt=\":D\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This was also posted on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/GONE-WILD-Friends\/119729439767\">GONE WILD and friends Facebook page<\/a>!!<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;PIECES OF ETERNITY&#8221; BY CHRIS SZKUP<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Reviewed by Rob Smith (GONE WILD)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Preface:<\/strong><br \/>\nI recieved a copy of Chris Szkup&#8217;s new solo album (&#8220;Pieces Of Eternity&#8221;) in the mail today, on opening the package I was immediately struck with how great the artwork for this album is, a terrific job done there by Dan Verkys.<\/p>\n<p>I found the album captivating and very interesting, almost like listening to 3 albums in one, with a range of different styles throughout the album.<\/p>\n<p>Tracks 1, 6, 8, &amp; 10 could be from one album, tracks 3, 4, 5, &amp; 9 from another, and tracks 2 &amp; 7 from yet another, but with Chris&#8217;s voice carrying most tracks, I found the mix of tracks to be very intriguing indeed.<\/p>\n<p>This album shows just how versatile Chris Szkup is, as both a musical writer and a musician, his unique singing style blends perfectly with his different musical styles, and his musicianship on guitar\/bass and piano\/keys is first class.<\/p>\n<p>A great job done by Stew Long with the mixing and production of this allbum @ Red Planet Studios.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Magical Occurence:<\/strong><br \/>\nI was surprised when the Keyboards kicked in on this opening track, as somehow I had gotten it into my head that it would be a guitar opener, but I like surprises, and this opening mood peice has shades of Alan Parsons going on which I dig. Ian Bairnson styles on the guitar and the gong finish is great.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. First Blood:<\/strong><br \/>\nAh! this is what I had in mind for the opener, but anyone who at first listen thought this was going to be a laid back album gets their answer right here! I have to say this is my favourite track on the album, great arrangement, great guitar. I dig it when Chris is in this mode, hot!!!<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. (I Can&#8217;t) Start Again:<\/strong><br \/>\nThis is where we skip albums, and jump into a different style completely to the last track, a solid uptempo rock track, almost Iggy Pop styles going on here for me!<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Soundtrack:<\/strong><br \/>\nThis track runs along nicely with the last one, though a slightly lighter track. Sounds a bit like Richard Anderson on lead vocals ha! A nice big fat guitar sound on this one! with tasty licks!<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. October 22:<\/strong><br \/>\nThis track also follows the last two well, a cool quirky foot tapping song!<br \/>\nChris&#8217;s vocals remind me a little bit in places of Tom Petty on this one! cool like it!<\/p>\n<p><strong>6. Transition:<\/strong><br \/>\nOk, the mood deepens and slows here with this cool instumental. We&#8217;re back with the opening track styles here I feel, and it draws you in. I love the mellow sound Chris has on the gatt on this track, shades of Mark Knopfler (Brothers In Arms) I can see why it&#8217;s called &#8220;Transistion&#8221;, as there are several within this track, very tastful accompanying keys and piano on this track by Chris also, nice!<\/p>\n<p><strong>7. To A Scream:<\/strong><br \/>\nLike &#8220;First Blood&#8221; I really dig this track, a whole album of this style would be right up my back alley Chris. The vocal effects work great with this track, I&#8217;ve had some similar one&#8217;s sent my way by Richard Anderson (grins). Cool arrangement, love the lazy big chugalug chords in this track, and harmony notes played in the middle, great riff, totally dig it!!!<\/p>\n<p><strong>8. Lost Soul:<\/strong><br \/>\nChris&#8217;s piano skills come to the fore here! a superb track! it has a soul baring quality to it that I love, it has that Alan Parsons vibe going again, great melody! great gatt solo, I really dig your vocs on this one Chris!<\/p>\n<p><strong>9. Innate Self Destruct:<\/strong><br \/>\nOnce again a different style coming through here with this track, sits great with tracks 3, 4, 5, I feel.<br \/>\nLove the change in the middle where the gatt kicks in! makes me wanna get the bourbons out haha!<\/p>\n<p><strong>10. Tribal Eat Pop Slop:<\/strong><br \/>\nGreat! some latin vibe!!! You know I&#8217;m into that, way cool! I love that tribal vocal hook going on through this track, it&#8217;s kinda hypnotic, and I love the groove of this track also! another great arrangement! This track is also one of my favs, and a great way to finish off the album, wicked stuff!<br \/>\nThis songs needs some airplay bigtime!!!!!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conclusion:<\/strong><br \/>\n&#8220;Pieces Of Eternity&#8221; is a very well produced album with some great songs and a cool mixture of styles throughout! Congratulations to Chris and everyone else involved, I wish you every success with your debut solo album.<\/p>\n<p>Cheers,<br \/>\nRob Smith (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.myspace.com\/gonewildnz\">GONE WILD<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rob was kind enough to have this in my inbox the DAY he got the CD!!! For a dude as busy on musak as El Robbo, that&#8217;s mightily appreciated by me I gotta say!! Much thanks brother!!!!!!!!!! This was also posted on the GONE WILD and friends Facebook page!! &#8220;PIECES OF ETERNITY&#8221; BY CHRIS SZKUP &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cs-songs.com\/main\/?p=139\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Pieces of Eternity reviewed by Rob Smith!!!&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[237,60],"class_list":["post-139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-info","category-news","tag-pieces-of-eternity","tag-rob-smith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cs-songs.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cs-songs.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cs-songs.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cs-songs.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cs-songs.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cs-songs.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":197,"href":"https:\/\/cs-songs.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions\/197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cs-songs.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cs-songs.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cs-songs.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}