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| Jerry Velona Releases New Album Entitled Love Radio Love Radio features six original compositions by Velona as well as three covers including the lead track, Looking for Lewis and Clark composed by Sid Griffin and a hit for his band The Long Ryders in the mid 1980's. Velona updated some of the song's lyrics with Griffin's permission and about Velona's version he commented: "Jerry Velona once again proves his musical worth in a balls-to-the-wall cover version of the Long Ryders' 'Looking For Lewis & Clark', a pounding yet melodic take which begs the question: where are the great and fearless leaders of the present day? Velona's committed vocal and approach to the lyric may not provide a complete set of answers but oh Mercy, they frame the question so very, very well." The record features an assortment of some of the finest musicians in the Boston area including several faculty members of Velona's alma mater The Berklee College of Music. Local singer Debbie Pierre is featured on background vocals on many of the tracks as well as the lead vocal on The Ghetto (ain't going back). Hip hop artist and spoken word poet J Ivy is also featured on the same track which was adapted from the Donny Hathaway tune Ghetto first recorded in the 1970's. "I've spent a great deal of time over the past couple of years composing, arranging and recording these songs, " said Velona, "I'm very proud of the record and I think some of the tracks represent my best work to date." Velona produced the record in addition to singing most of the tracks and playing drums and percussion on many of them. The songs were recorded at Woolly Mammoth Sound in Waltham, MA and Q Division Studios in Somerville, MA. Mastering was done by Bill Bromfield at Clockwise Records, Nashville. In addition to Looking for Lewis and Clark, Love Radio features several straight-ahead rock tracks including the humorous When I Wake Up, the semi-biographical First to Last and the subtly political The Bureau of Whatever. Other highlights include the deft funk of Our Own Devices which Velona playfully describes as, "our ode to analog fun." The album also features the bluesy Just Don't Feel Like Christmas about which Velona says, "I was trying to express the melancholy that often accompanies the Christmas season." The record is balanced out by covers of the Robbie Robertson song Forbidden Fruit and the somewhat obscure soul chestnut Baby What'cha Got (for me) recorded by the late soul singer Darrell Banks in l967. Jerry Velona is a Boston area singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He's played and sung in a number of Boston bands and has written songs which have appeared on HBO, MTV and elsewhere. His voice has been featured in commercials and the theme song for the independent film "Lifestyles of the Poor and Unknown". write your comments about the article :: © 2014 Jazz News :: home page |