I love a good musical crossover. By that I don’t mean when a country star has a pop hit. No, what I’m talking about is a tune that is taken completely out of context by being covered in a different genre. One of my favorite records is called Brand New Second Hand, a collection of pop tunes that have been reggae-fied. The amazing thing is that there are songs that I used to absolutely hate, but ended up loving in reggae form. Remember “On and On”? “Down in Jamaica they got lots of pretty women….”? Stephen Bishop? Super-icky. As a reggae tune (by Aswad)? Awesome. OK, so now that I’ve got that ramble out of the way, let’s talk about Sean Noonan. Oh, he’s a crossover artist alright. But go ahead and give Boxing Dreams a listen and you tell me what this is. Jazz? Rock? Afro-Celtic? A fusion of sorts? For the record, the correct answer is: yes, yes, yes, yes. What this record has in common with the aforementioned reggae covers album is the element of surprise. As you listen, your brain ear bits want to attach the music to a genre … but it never happens. Awesome.
‘Half Notes’ are quick-take thoughts on music from Something Else! Reviews, presented whenever the mood strikes us.
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