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Kent Liverpool In Person

by Kent Liverpool

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James Filkins
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nickrom
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mario matamoro iglesias
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1.
Mirrorball Inside You 04:30
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2.
Disintegration 04:07
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3.
Protest Music 04:31
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4.
Saturday Sunshine 04:30
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5.
The Big Takeover 05:04
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6.
Solar Wind 07:02
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7.
Condescension 04:53
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8.
Universe 05:52
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9.
Get Me to an Oxygen Bar 03:32
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10.
Fix On You 04:04
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about

Set number five from the vast back catalog of mid-western pop-rock practitioner Kent Liverpool, 'In Person' features some of KL's fiercest fretwork, inventive songwriting and furious personal/political angst. It's a bit darker than Vols. 1-4, but every bit as old-school jangly/crunchy & melodic/hooky, just with bigger guitars, tougher grooves, and more pointed lyrics.

Soaring slo-mo anthem 'Mirrorball Inside You' kicks things off in roaring style, and is a bit of a notable item in the annals of Footnote Rock. KL was a member of legendary mid-western club band The Raisins throughout 1977-'78, playing the 'chitlin circuit' with co-core members Bob Nyswonger and Rob Fetters, as well as drummer Chris Arduser, who had joined just before KL was added on. Bob, Rob and Chris went on to form The Bears with legendary guitarist Adrian Belew (Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Talking Heads, King Crimson), who released two albums for IRS subsidiary Primitive Man, and later a live set.

The Raisins were originally formed in 1974, in Sylvania, Ohio, out of the ashes of Fetter's band Strongheart. They quickly became the most popular band in town, then the whole Northwest Ohio area, finally relocating to Cincinatti, where after KL and Chris's departure in early '79, they regrouped with two new members, and began their most popular and well-documented phase as an all originals band.

The original group ('74-'76) also included charismatic vocalist Steve Athanas, who KL later played with in an also very popular Ohio band called The Best. The Bob, Rob & Steve (and Rex and George) version of the band concentrated mostly on covers, and each show was part circus, part stand-up comedy, and lots of dancing and good rock and roll. When KL and Chris joined there was a concerted effort to write more original songs, record them, and chase the elusive 'record deal.' While some decent and some god awful demos still exist, their effort ultimately failed, and KL and Chris moved on.

This brings us to "Mirrorball Inside You" - it's the only time the original four '77-'78 Raisins reunited to collaborate on a well-recorded, original track, and arguably the only one they recorded together that best shows what might have been. That's KL's feeling, anyway.

Elsewhere on the album is the angry, burn-it-all-down 'Disintegration,' Kent's take on a Monkee's style 'Pleasant Valley Sunday' irony - the uber-melodic, Revolver-esque, sixties baroque-pop of 'Saturday Sunshine,' in which the Americans depicted in his short story lyric enjoy the fruits of first world comfort while the exploited suffer and die around them.

All Freudian repression disappears on the meta-protest song, 'Protest Music,' which lists societies' ongoing self-inflicted wounds, all the while suggesting that perhaps musicians need to say a bit more about them, instead of hanging back and fiddling while Rome burns. This rant finally lands on slow-burn anthem 'The Big Takeover,' which ends side one in disgusted, sloganeering transcendent style. Whew.

Side two starts off with KL's biggest burst of psychedelic guitar extant in the seven minute-plus grinder 'Solar Wind,' and then puts a cherry on top with some further Wah-Wah-Work on the punchy, tight, hooky little sneer entitled 'Condescension.'

Next up is the gentle, oceanic, rising anthem of 'Universe,' a love conquers everything swayer custom made for iPhone lighter flame app waving. Quite sincere and seductive though, and again, big guitars.

KL's unique brand of black humor rears its head for the first time in the release series on 'Get Me to An Oxygen Bar.' Oxygen Bars were a Southern California fad in the early oughts, and what with the climate continuing to deteriorate and carbon monoxide percentages rising, they might just turn out to be a going concern.

Finally, 'Fix on You' gets into a deep, sexy love & obsession groove, and, shocker: the big guitars once again come out.

From the mock Kingsmen cover, replete with KL's Zelig-like insertion of himself as a member of the 1910 Fruitgum Co. cover, to the strong melodies, backbeats (and big guitars), it's an old school power pop rock fan's dream. Lost To Time, Footnote Rock at its finest.

What more could a hype press message possibly say? How many more trigger words aimed at 60s/70s style pop-rock music fans can be typed out? How much more juicy, obscure, vintage-era rock minutia and how many more poignant 'what-once-was-and-never-will-be-again' stories can be spun? What are you waiting for? Get it!

credits

released June 16, 2023

'Mirrorball Inside You:' KL - vocal, rhythm guitar, keyboard; Rob Fetters - lead guitar; Bob Nyswonger - bass; Chris Arduser - drums. Recorded 1991 in Michigan and Ohio.

'Protest Music:' Chris Arduser - drums.

All tracks except 'Mirrorball Inside You' performed and recorded by KL in Los Angeles between 2003-2007. 'Fix On You' recorded 1997.

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Kent Liverpool

Kent Liverpool, originally from Michigan, is a musician who wrote, performed and recorded in many places within the USA between 1980 and 2011.

He worked in a classic rock style, influenced primarily by 1960s and early 1970s am radio, SoCal singer-songwriters, AOR, Heartland Rock, and New Wave.

He's currently releasing his vast back catalog (900+ songs) in weekly, themed album length collections. ... more

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