Album Review: Rees Shad’s “Tattletale”

GREAT BARRINGTON, MA – Blending a variety of genres, including roots-rock, old-time jazz, and singer-songwriter folk, Rees Shad has presented an endearing collection of tunes on his album, Tattletale, which came out on September 19^th, 2022. Throughout the record, Shad’s arrangement skills are on full display, as listeners are greeted by a panoply of instruments that weave in and out of the mix; sometimes above the vocal, sometimes below, but always in that seemingly sweet spot of production. From the musical performances to the delivery of the vocal melodies, everything on the record sounds great.

Beginning the album, on “Mickey Mouse Romeo,” the song starts with a lone acoustic guitar playing some jazz chord voicings. Featuring a loose vocal melody, the song is reminiscent of songs of yesteryear. Soon, the tune opens up to more instrumentation, including double bass, and drums performed in a swampy style. The electric guitar fills round out the piece in a nice way, and the start and stops of the instruments complement the vocal well. While the guitar solo is a nice addition, what really stands out to me is the brief bass solo that occurs after.

For track two, “Under New Management,” the chordal stabs played on the keyboard and guitar in the intro help establish the groove, and leaves a lot of space for the melody to exist. After an initial pass through the melody, the drums enter, as well as a brief electric guitar interlude. Continuing to expand in vocal register, the melody develops and outlines a lyric that is rich in imagery detailing the culture around whores, pimps, and their clientele.

A plaintive piano interlude serves as the intro for “Call it Done,” track three, before drums and vocals enter. The singer sounds extremely like Elton John on this track, and the overall feel sounds familiar to the work the legendary duo of Elton John and Bernie Taupin created. There are a lot of great gospel chord motifs inserted into this piece; the placement of minor chord voicings is very well done. The song has a subtle but effective political message in it for those that are keeping a keen ear on the lyrics. Near the end of the tune, the melody builds to a nice climax as the instrumentation slowly recedes.

It’s at this point in the record that things change a bit. On “Hatter’s Song,” track four, Rees steers into a more roots-rock sound, accompanied by piano, drums, and a clean and classic single-coil guitar tone. It starts becoming clear to the listener how Rees builds and arranges his songs, and more than that, song after song serves as evidence to why his method works. Another great track, and yet another well-placed crescendo.

With a classic-sounding piano intro, on the next tune, “Nobody Said,” the majority of the instrument’s part in the song features occasional abrupt stops, with an overarching eighth note chord motif between the left and right hand. This song glides along almost weightlessly and further solidifies this album as having elements of a piano rock record. The saxophone solo was unexpected but greatly welcomed. Near the tune’s conclusion, we’re introduced to another solo, this time on guitar, that wonderfully follows the chord changes, telling an instrumental story of its own that matches the emotions given off by the lyrics.

Perhaps it’s “In the Arms of Tania Vanessa,” track six, that reinforces this listener’s ear to interpret the record as one produced by many of the piano rock greats. For example, on this number, there’s a bit of Italian-styled swing, we arrive at another sharp turn in the record. I really enjoy this waltz; the acoustic guitar and accordion complement each other very well. Other than the brief solo interlude on guitar, for the most part, the instrument is playing a relentless rhythmic figure of stressing the two and three of the bar, which really allows listeners something to easily latch on to. And, while there isn’t a piano, it reminds this author of “Vienna” by the great Billy Joel.

For some reason, while it’s true that all of the instrumentation on “Can’t Remember” is performed and arranged in a great manner, the snare drum stood out most prominently. It’s so fat and solid sounding that listeners will have no hard time grabbing the rhythm and floating along with it. This is another powerful vocal performance from Rees. The tone of the guitar solo is fantastic – it sounds like the amp is being naturally distorted by the sheer level of output that is coming from its volume.

In this listener’s opinion, Rees spaced the album out quite effectively. For the most part, the tunes pivot from a more electric feel to that of a more acoustic nature. “Carolina Wren,” track eight, is not just tinged, but soaked in bluegrass vibes. It’s the only song on the record with two main singers, one male, and one female. The call-and-response from these vocals is very enjoyable to hear, as are the fiddle and mandolin parts sprinkled throughout. Near the song’s conclusion, we hear a brief acoustic guitar slide solo before returning to one final chorus.

Unlike the pivoting nature of genres the rest of the album follows, the next song “Blue,” is another bluegrass song, with a dash of old-time swing and country-western. The janky nature of the fiddle part in this song – threatening to be played out of tune, yet never truly reaching this pitch – adds such a homestead feel to the track. A simple and endearing song, it serves the album well, being so near the end of the record.

The penultimate song on the record, “Tattletale,” is quite a jaunty one, featuring a piercing alto sax part, as well as support from a clarinet. Simply put, the song is extremely fun and bouncy. There’s an air of not taking oneself too seriously on this track; it sounds like everyone involved is having a blast, which only serves to make the tunes sound genuine. I enjoyed the abrupt ending!

Though it’s true all of these songs are enjoyable, the closing track “Lost in Translation,” is my favorite. There’s such a groovy bossa Nova rhythm on this! Floating along in such an upbeat way, “Lost in Translation” takes the best parts of the album, in terms of instrumentation, and fits them all into one song. A terrific way to end the album, Shad’s jazz influence in his songwriting essentially bookends the record, when considering how the album began with “Mickey Mouse Romeo.”

From start to finish, Rees has produced quite an impressive of amalgamation of sounds and genres with Tattletale. A record where the artistic influences are clear, fans of Billy Joel, Elton John, and artists of that ilk will definitely find a record they can enjoy with Rees’ latest release. Go check it out for yourself here.