Promise Land, an almost completely instrumental CD by Maienza & Brown makes me feel elevated when listening to it. It has a real strong vibe and I am constantly trying to sing along with the straight ahead rock rhythms. In fact, it’s just begging for a talented vocalist to sing with them.
“After Midnight” shares nothing with the J.J. Cale song of the same name, although it really doesn’t matter. It’s got a feelgood groove with the signature reverb drenched guitar from Eric Maienza. I would have liked to see Maienza take a solo perhaps to break up the repetition a bit, but a good solid effort. “Microdot” is another track where that chiming guitar is used to notable effect.
The other half of the team, Randy Brown, really shines on “I Just Want To Be With You.” He locks into a beat that recalls a bassline McCartney or even Squire would run with. Playing melody after melody, just driving the rhythm… It brings much to this song written (as they all are) by Maienza.
I’d like to hear future releases by Maienza & Brown. They show a lot of promise on this CD, and I look forward to their next project. Hopefully they make a few changes by employing a real drummer and maybe a full time vocalist? We have a good start with Promise Land, but there is a greater future to come.
Reviewed by Terry Jackson on January 24th, 2008
