Shut Up and Smell the Coffee by Tom Stahl

"Stahl writes some of the wittiest and loveliest songs you'll ever hear, and catchy melodies. Live, he is an engaging performer with a unique vocal delivery. There is nothing typical about Tom Stahl."- Geoff Kelly- Artvoice.

By ANTHONY VIOLANTI

News Critic

3/30/01

Every once in a while a performer comes up with a song that can change a

career. It deserves to happen to Tom Stahl for the track "Are There Angels"

off his new CD, "Shut Up and Smell the Coffee." The soft song is layered with

emotion, featuring these lyrics:

"Angels don't belong down here on earth, they're gone before you know it and

when they're gone it hurts/So treasure every moment from the moment of their

birth/'cause you know angels don't belong down here on earth. "Where there're

angels, there is hope/So when you feel you just can't cope and the world

around turns cold and gray and your angel's far way/Well don't you cry,

angels don't die."

This is one of the best local tracks I've heard in years. The last time I was

so moved by a song was when the Goo Goo Dolls released their breakthrough

single, "Name" in 1995. "Are There Angels" exudes a spiritual, melancholy

quality with a universal message. It's the kind of remarkable record that

deserves to be played on local radio, even in a tight broadcast market like

Buffalo. "Angels" would be perfect for a country, pop or light vocal radio

format. Stahl has provided Buffalo radio with the rare opportunity to break

out a national hit from a local record. It's about time local radio took

advantage of such an opportunity because the song has the potential to be a

Top 10 hit. But don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen. Stahl

recently sang the song at a church service for a group of people mourning the

loss of children. "It was very heavy the way the people responded to the

song," he said. "I think of it as a healing song, and I was touched by the

reaction. They wanted me to talk afterward, but it was so emotional, I had to

leave." Stahl is one of Buffalo's most creative and clever songwriters - but

he downplays the meaning of his music. "If you listen carefully, I don't

really say anything," said Stahl, who has been singing and writing for six

years and recently released the CD "Shut Up and Smell the Coffee." It will be

available at a release party Saturday at 7 p.m. in Nietzsche's, 248 Allen St.

Stahl, of course, is being modest. His sound is a robust combination of folk,

rock and country, and it enhances a writing style that offers hope dosed with

some wide-eyed cynicism. Consider the opening track on his CD, called "Shut

Up." It's an answer for those looking for music's next big thing. "And

everybody's listening for a brand new sound/If you want to find it here, you

best get out of town." Later, he adds this lyric: "If you read what I wrote,

then you read old news, and I sound like Dylan, like that could be bad, if

that's all you're hearing then man you've been had." The new CD is the fourth

of Stahl's career and his first in nearly two years. It's available at Tom

Catt Records, PO Box 417, Hamburg, N.Y. 14075. The Web address is:

www.hipknowsys.com/stahl.>

Tom's faithful band members (the Dangerfields) include:

Dave Courtemanche, (bass), Gary Kowalski (drums, percussion), Marty Peters (lead guitar, engineer and producer) and little brother Mark Stahl(Keyboards).

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