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by Jim Benson
 Chris
Butler - Easy Life (Future Fossil Records)
In Northern Ohio, Chris Butler is part of the music elite,
a legend at this point!. His past has included membership
in Tin Huey and the Waitresses. He wrote "I Know What
Boys Like". In his youth, he was part of the Akron music
scene that produced Devo. He was also of legal age during
the Kent riots. All of this comes out in his latest release.
A fifteen track CD that has commentary between the songs.
Reflections of those times, good and bad. But a terrific and
memorizing listen from the start. A few of the songs have
a singer songwriter performance feel to them, others have
full band participation. There's also multistyles from track
tot track. "Hey Stranger" is a very catchy pop gem.
"Red Drink..." has hints of avante garde and jazz
combined! Chris proclaim he's a child of Cleveland and became
an adult in Kent, Ohio at the beginning of the "My Hometown".
But that statement really hits home when you get to the last
two tracks. "Beggar's Bullet's" is a twelve minute
plus reflection of his personal memories of the Kent State
University killings in May 1970, when National Guardsmen opened
fire on unarmed students. Mixing dialogue with songs to bring
the listener in to that terrible time. The last track is a
cover of CCR's"Fortunate Son". Im not sure that
Chris can really call his life easy. but it's clearly been
one hell of a ride after hearing this walk down memory lane.
JerseyBeat.com
is an independently published music fanzine
covering punk, alternative, ska, techno and garage
music, focusing on New Jersey and the Tri-State
area. For the past 25 years, the Jersey Beat music
fanzine has been the authority on the latest upcoming
bands and a resource for all those interested in
rock and roll.
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