MUSIC REVIEWS QUARTERLY
Issue Three – Spring, 1998
Don't know what Tom Hall has been doing all his life, but somewhere in there he has been writing and playing music. This is his debut, and it's not the debut of some young guy out to make his mark in the music
world and enjoy a subsequent life of groupies and mad money. This is a John Hiatt-type of songwriter and performer, one who makes music which is aged just enough to have a full-bodied flavor and staying power. That
Tom Hall's music bears at least a passing resemblance to Hiatt's mix of blues, R&B, rock, and even country just makes this debut more interesting. And then, lets just get the idea of "debut" out of the
way completely. Nothing on Tom Hall - the disc – indicates “debut" skills or someone beginning an apprenticeship in the music world. This thing is sharp from start to finish without a single misstep along the way. It's lively, it's fun, it's polished just enough, and it's a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend an hour.
Since the Hiatt reference has already been made, it should be refined to indicate that Hall's singing style as well as his choice of styles does link nicely with John Hiatt's style. What Hall adds to
Hiatt's vocal style is a touch of Ray Charles which Hiatt would gladly absorb if his voice had that quality in it. Tom Hall has a soulful voice which always carries a road-worn but ultimately optimistic tone to it.
It fits his compositions perfectly. Whether applying those soulful shadings to the country-inflected "The Little Girl In You" or working it to the straight R&B funky groove of "I'm So
Confused," Hall takes complete control in a friendly way. Whatever life has dished out to Hall over the years, he has learned to find some pleasure in it, and he transfers that to his music both in construction
and in implication each time a note is played. Hall likes horns, he likes grooves, and he likes the sound of a full band- piano, organ, guitar, bass, drums – jamming together with a focus. His melodies are
player-friendly, open for quick leads from everyone in the band. The piano might supply a nice New Orleans feeling, the sax might pop in a Chicago blues run, the guitar might supply a Motown rhythm, and Hall will
then glue it all together with a pleasing rasp to his blues vocal which says "this is fun stuff, ain't it?" In the process, someone else keeps lurking around the corner - Van Morrison. When Van was having
fun with music back in his “Moondance” days, he had a good time working blues/soul melodies, letting background vocalists do a soul backing when it felt right and enjoying the horns popping out with all their
metallic brightness. That's certainly the sense you get from Tom Hall's music. Springtime romps with plenty of sixty mile an hour, top-down fun to it. It's everything soul, R&B, rock, and blues can be when it's
in a good mood, and Tom Hall handles it with wonderful control and joy in its ability to rejuvenate the soul.
Of these fourteen songs, several fit squarely into that bright, Van Morrison feeling. Several more have that slightly grittier John Hiatt approach to the same music Van Morrison loves. Balancing these are
several with distinctly Latin rhythms. The opener, "Paris Rain," carries with it a Santana feeling in its tight rock core which builds into a tight jam set to a dark, sultry Latin beat. "I’d Sure
Feel Better" takes a tango beat, and "Domestic Life" moves just north for a Tex/Mex story which sounds for all the world like the dark side of Marty Robbins. (This tale of young girl, older guy sports
lines like, "She was fifteen years old, she could bowl with a 16-pound ball/ I was forty-three, I could barely bowl at all.") Following this he moves to the Caribbean flavor of
"Evolution", complete with steel drums, congas, and other assorted percussion. But at the core of everything Tom Hall does is a solid sense of the groove needed to make it move, and he delivers fine
grooves time after time on this recording.
Some recordings just feel great. The previously mentioned Moondance was one of those; this is another. There are reasons for them feeling so great, not the least of which are good songwriting, inspired playing, and vocalists who can make their pleasure almost tangible. But analysis always seems silly when you sit there listening to music this enjoyable. The brain doesn't want to think, just feel. And when Tom Hall - the disc - finishes, the brain says to itself "thank you Mr. Hall, you've just made life seem a whole lot better." Skip the next Prozac and pop this on instead.
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