LATEST REVIEW
SUPER STACK
Self-titled
Independent
7 (8)-out-of-10
To start with, I should explain Super Stack is not the newest breakfast dish at a local restaurant.
Nor, is Super Stack the latest bale hauler from one of the farm machinery companies.
Instead, Super Stack is a straight ahead Canadian rock band out of Ontario, and this CD is their first effort, and it's a good one.
People in Yorkton who appreciate live music, and good rock 'n roll should have been at Rayzr's Pub in the Yorkton Hotel this weekend since Super Stack played a two-night gig here. Some bands are best in a studio, and some best seen live, and Super Stack falls into the second category. Their live sets were definitely in the groove at Rayzr's and my opinion of the band climbed after enjoying them live Friday. That is why the double score. They gain a point on the live show over the CD alone.
Scott Donnelly has a memorable voice, one that in spite of straight ahead rock music, the band allowed to shine through clearly. He is also a killer on guitar with a number of really solid solos live.
Drummer Brian Lahaie was also fun to watch, with bassist Greg Mihajic.
Onto the CD, well these guys offer up 12 cuts of original material, although again they have a broader original repertoire live. They play straight ahead rock, although you get a bluesy feel underlying several cuts, which probably tells you were they will migrate as musicians as they mature. A lot of rockers go blues in later life.
I must say I prefer when Super Stack slows it down a gear. I really think Road Tales & The Love Lost and Fingers and Thumbs are two of the best songs offered on their debut CD. True Love and the Pie Lady follow the top two closely.
The lead cut Here I Am, Kick It On Down and High Again are the best of the more up-temp efforts.
These guys are on an extended tour across Canada and into the United States. Their live shows will win them a lot of fans, and they could well break bigger than they currently are, so you might want to get in on the ground floor and pick this one up. Check them out at www.superstackmusic.com
-- CALVIN DANIELS- Reviews first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper July 25 2007 - Yorkton, SK. Canada www.calmardan.blogspot.com
BIO
indelible ( n-d l -b l)
adj.
1. Making a mark not easily erased or washed away.
2. Unable to be forgotten; memorable
Indelible: remember this word. It'll pretty much describe the end result of SUPERSTACK music on any listener who is swept into their slipstream. It WILL leave grooves and songs in your mind not easily erased or washed away. Trust me, I've had too many of these stuck in my head since first hearing them to tell you its gonna go down any other way.
The Sudbury-bred, Southern-fed sound of SUPERSTACK verges on a force of nature - powerful, organic, captivating, relentless. Lead singer and guitarist Scott Donnelly, drummer Brian Lahaie, and bassist Greg Mihajic have grabbed the essence of 70's soul rock by the throat and breathed new life into it with 12 tracks of potent new juice that'll shoot straight up your spine and wiggle its way down again. Conjure up a musical love child of James Brown, Humble Pie, Grand Funk Railroad, Lynyrd Skynyrd,and The James Gang, and you’ll be on the right track.
The album was produced by the band and recorded in home studios in Toronto and Barrie, ON. Two live-off-the-floor cuts were tracked at the renowned Phase One Studios in Markham by senior Phase engineer Michael Jack (The Trews, Big Sugar, Rush, Bono, Nelly Furtado), who also mixed the entire album.The SUPERSTACK principle: groove is king, whether its Brian's freight train drum intro on Here I Am (Ready To Groove) or Greg's ballsy bass dropping it in on Kick It On Down. The rhythm section is thunder with Scott the inevitable lightning, unleashing a spectacular, soulful vocal assault on each song as if this just might be the last time you'll hear him sing. Like the firebird tattooed on his arm, with his trademark Gibson Firebird in his hands Scott is a fiery supernova, blasting out searing guitar leads that leave no man, woman, or child unscathed.
SUPERSTACK is beauty and the beast, finesse and flame, dualities that are embodied in so many great rock bands. Watch for a live show in your area, SUPERSTACK has indelibly arrived!
~Aaron Garner