Well if Pop Matters was a breakthrough this was a miracle! After posting this review in it's original Czech musicserver.cz form almost two months ago I finally got an answer to my plea for a translation! None other than from the reviewer himself Dan Hajek! Here is what he thinks of "Is This The Blues I'm Singing?"....
"Richard, don't give it up and pass it on!"
The world of internet enables amazing things and will probably keep surprising us with its possibilities. The album "Is This The Blues I'm Singing?", which landed in our office more or less accidentally, is one of such surprises. This album was recorded by Richard Reagh, who combines elements which are almost incompatible, yet the final effect is impressive. His creativity does not wear off - and it triggers off a good mood.
As already mentioned in our text "A Week in the Pop (10.)", we got the album "Is This The Blues I'm Singing?" purely accidentally, based on a couple of accesses from our regular section "Jukebox", which contained links to two tracks. Somebody from the team surrounding Richard Reagh made that special effort not only to find where the site had been accessed from - but also find the address of our editorial office. I have also downloaded the couple of songs - "Hangin' On A Limb" and "Winter Light" - myself, got to like them, and then decided to do a review of the entire album. To my surprise, though, I found out that the two songs are meant to mislead you. "Is This The Blues I'm Singing?" welds many styles and folk is only their essential link. Richard is a hell of a joker, laptop wizard and a songwriter in one.
Native of Vancouver, who eventually settled in Swedish Värmdö, recorded his first album in cooperation with many guests and DJs. Before this, he released two EPs ("Outlaw" and "Extended Play"). All this he did through his own recording label This Is Pop. When recording, he used whatever affected him through his life and glued it into a fancy jigsaw. Beside his own compositions, there is also room for a splendid cover of "Hangin' On A Limb" from Neil Young's songbook. Along with placid songs, you can find a couple of true hits, which make it straight to your heart, such as "Winter Light". This smash hit is nicely accompanied by tracks "Colour Of The Birds" and "No One Really Wants To".
However, what Richard enjoys the most is creating acoustic loops and recording some kind of disco, yet without the retro pathos of the 80s. His approach joins and layers retrieved bits, which he then shapes in his laptop: "The P-Song" is a typical illustration of such process. On the other hand, he can make you move with his beatbox, distorted by a vocoder in "Alive", "Outlaw 3.0" is interwoven with 70s hit samples, while the electro country "Squirrel Man" just perks you up - and so on and so forth. I will, however, mention yet another milestone: the track "Self Esteem" is represented on the album twice - you can find it right at the end, under the name "Bread & Butter" in the original, purely acoustic version.
"Is This The Blues I'm Singing?" is full of entertaining references and parallels, which can be at home at any party. Richard Reagh prepared fast songs, as well as tracks which make you snug up to your baby. OK, then, mix yourself enough Tequilla Sunrise and go for the ride - it's worth every minute of it!
P. S.:
When visiting Richard's site, not only you can watch the videos from the gig in the Zita hall, but you can also download all remixes of his singles. You find plenty of them there.
