MP3 The Walrus - Uncovered

11 new Rock classics, featuring excellent vocal harmonies, fine acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, and posthumous violin

11 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Classic Rock, POP: Beatles-pop



Details:
The five seasoned professionals who make up The Walrus have been energizing nightclubs, community festivals and private parties in the Pacific Northwest with classic rock cover tunes since the band formed nearly 11 years ago. Now they are poised to delight their growing fan base with a collection of original, "uncovered" tunes that evoke and combine the melodic harmonies of the 1960s and the psychedelic musical arrangements of the '70s with present day inspiration and modern recording techniques.

In addition, haunting strains from the violin of the late Guy Mulford, who played at the Walrus' first public gig in 1996, are heard on "Guy's Song," a tribute to the beloved musician who died on Jan. 1, 2001. Mulford's posthumous fiddling is also a tribute to the high-tech recording equipment and talent at Bayside Recording in Bellingham, where the album was produced and recorded over the last two years.

Each of the 11 songs is so different that the debut album defies categorization in a single musical genre and sounds like a "Walrus Greatest Hits" collection. The songs range from "The Garden," inspired by the 1992 New Age novel, "Ishmael," and employing Crosby Stills Nash & Young-style harmonies to the deliciously vampy "Tongue in Cheek" to the psychedelic-sounding "Gaia."

The CD is rich with classic rock, pop and folk vocal arrangements; ballads about friends who are like a "Second Family" and about empowerment; screaming electric, acoustic and pedal-steel guitar licks; and love songs about absent as well as cheating lovers. The synergy of original themes and lyrics combined with Sgt. Pepper-inspired rock song melodies points to the versatility and experience of Bellingham's rockin' sea mammals.

Two songs on the album are directly inspired by the Beatles, the Walrus' favorite band to cover. Young's "Abbey Road" describes the ups and downs of rock music stardom, and "Hold Your Hand" is a 96-second dance number with harmonies as crisp as The Beatles' No. 1 hit, "All My Loving" (and reminiscent of a number of early Beatles songs including, of course, "I Want to Hold Your Hand").