Back In Time by Joseph A. Malgeri

Back In Time begins with the very Zappa influenced “I’m Following You”, which though suffering ever so slightly, due to the drum machine sound, is a great track featuring an interesting fuzzed out bass solo and a ripping guitar solo. Like Mr. Zappa, Joseph enjoys the distorted Wah Wah peddle sound on his axe. On “Yes, We All Have To Reap What We So” the artist plays a really tip-top dual lead passage that reminded me of Frank’s “Peaches and Regalia” on sedatives.

Joseph plays all the instruments on the CD excluding the flute parts (by Gary Mazza) which add some nice color in the vein of John Mayall and Keef Hartley. Using home studio gear but sounding pretty clean, the artist conveys that he is having a blast playing his quirky material. In addition to instrumentation, Malgeri has inserted messages recorded from his answering machine, adding to the tongue and cheek approach to the material. On “The Customer’s Always Right” he lampoons doing business in corporate America with heavy guitar riffs and glib lyrics.

In today’s music market, it is refreshing to hear an artist who marches to the beat of his own whacky drummer. Joseph Malgeri is way out of the mainstream but still hits the mark with his satirical progressive rock that tips its hat to seventies avant garde rockers Captain Beefheart and the aforementioned Frank Zappa. He ain’t no pop singer but he is a creative musician doing something worth checking out.

Madmonk Overall Grade: B+

------------------------------------------------------------

"Not bad dude, a B+ from a real reviewer!"

"Back In Time" - notes: Futuristic as hell overall, like a Zappaesque cumulative Psych/Garage feel in some instrumentals. I Liked "The Customer's Always Right" lyrics. "I'll give it a high mark because you can't dance to it!" It’s what I imagine Beefheart or The Residents might sound like. Track 13 – "Spanky The Monkey" – a nice twist/reinvention of Zappanastigmatics, and nice 'gee-tar' work too! Track 14 - "Warlords" – best so far, a nice trippy intro, mixing Canterbury sound with El Lay and Gyspy touch. "Warlords" is reminiscent of 60’s psych masterpieces like "Eagle Tragedy" and "Endless Tunnel." At first I thought it was a little too much on the Synthesizers; but there is enough going on so it doesn't get in the way. It gets more haunting as it goes on – excellent! At the start I wondered if I could get through the whole disc; and by the end it left me wanting more. It is in fact a “Whole Trip”. Excellent work – Killer CD – thanks for turning me on. Excellent sitar! – Let me know if you do another CD because I'll certainly want a copy?

Thanks Joe, greatly appreciated, later.

Richard M. Galuppo

------------------------------------------------------------

Sometime within the year 2005 the song entitled 'I'm Following You' became the number one song on the Australian Internet Radio Station KAOSFM - World Underground Music Show.

------------------------------------------------------------

"The following Minor Details may, or may not be worth mentioning, but..."

'Back In Time' consist of 20 recorded pieces of material, giving it a Total Time length of 79:34. Out of these 20 sections, 15 pieces actually qualify as songs. Meaning that five of these other pieces, a total of 3:06, are best described as follows:

The 1st piece entitled 'Sleeping Miles Away' is actually a :45 second CD introduction. The 6th piece entitled 'Mr. Garooch' is a :21 second 'spoken word' introduction to its following song. The 8th piece entitled 'Ask For Cathy' is an :18 second 'spoken word' introduction to its following song. The 18th piece entitled 'Roy Meets Guru' is an :37 second in-between songs segment. Then last but not least, the final piece number 20 entitled 'Roy Disciplines Guru,' is an 1:05 CD closing outro. In my humble opinion, all five of these pieces belong exactly where they are placed; complimenting the completion of the entire CD project.

Thank you,

JAM

------------------------------------------------------------

Produced, Engineered And Mixed By Joseph A. Malgeri

Average Customer Review: