Review by Josh Sager from fretterverse.com
Back in college, my friends and I came up with a nickname for musicians who were so good that we felt compelled to cut off one of their fingers to make it fair for the rest of us. We called these folks “nine-fingers.”
When I met NJ-based musician Mike Ian, it took all of about 10 seconds before we gave him the moniker. In fact, we pretty much made up the nickname for him specifically and then just applied it other people we knew as well. (Scott McGill also comes to mind.)
Mike recently released a new CD called “Puzzle Pieces” and when I received it in the mail I was anxious to put it in and give it a spin.
I’ll get to the actual review in a minute, but I feel that some more background is in order. You see, I met Mike in the music lounge in college. At that time (late 80’s/early 90’s) we basically took over the lounge and turned it into a jam house. Picture “Fame” but hetero. (Just sayin’… not that there’s anything wrong with that.)
The final straw for us wasn’t watching in awe as Mike played some of the most amazing guitar music we’ve ever heard. The final straw for us was when he most humbly told us that he felt he was just a guitar hack because his main instrument was drums!
(We almost stuffed him in the trunk of a car right then and there.)
But he’s right to a point; he is also a phenomenal drummer. You can hear him playing on my progressive rock band’s CD.
Anyway… I felt the background was important because Mike not only played guitar on Puzzle Pieces, but also drums, bass, banjo, pedal steel, and vocals. He also wrote all of the lyrics, recorded, engineered, and produced it. He even designed the CD cover himself! To say that Mike is multi-talented would be like saying Einstein was pretty smart.
Puzzle Pieces
Puzzle Pieces is a ten-song musical extravaganza that incorporates country, rock, and pop influences into a very solid, likeable, and great-sounding package. The engineering is fantastic, all of the instruments sound great, and Mike sings damn well, too! (This is the first time I’ve ever heard him sing in the 20+ years I’ve know him.)
Fans of Jellyfish will instantly fall in with the CD’s opener Ticket to the Moon. An incredibly hooky song with a great guitar intro, leslie speaker action, and overall a very tight arrangement.
The Sweetest Sound has something of a surf rock meets country vibe going for it. Great vocal harmonies and pedal steel work really shines through here. A nice, tight guitar solo safely weaves its way through the bridge. Definitely a song that you will be singing in your car with the windows down.
The title track, Puzzle Pieces, like Ticket to the Moon, starts with a cool guitar riff. This song reminds me very much of Kevin Gilbert. Beatles fans will really love the chorus, and the second verse has a really cool shuffle feel to it that gets your head bobbing up and down to the beat.
My Lucky Day shows out Mike’s country influence quite a bit, while the ballad The White Gown has a great Peter Gabriel vibe to it. I know Mike is a huge Gabriel fan, but he pays homage rather than wear the influence on his sleeve.
Mountain Song reminds me of the group Train in many ways. It’s a very solid song, but hasn’t quite moved me yet as much as the others. I’m sure the song will grow on me – as pretty much all of Mike’s songs do – but I think it may take a little bit longer to catch on with me than the rest.
The pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and get going, feel-good inspiration song of the CD is definitely Better Days. I don’t know why, but I just had a feeling even before I listened to the CD for the first time that Mike would have a song like this. He’s such a positive and encouraging person, it almost seemed inevitable. Having a bad day? Put this song in and crank it up. Need some motivation to take that next step? Better Days will help you do it.
The Great Escape is a bit hard to peg down. If “Yes meets the Dixie Chicks meets Spock’s Beard” makes sense, that’s how I would describe it. You gotta throw a bit of Jellyfish in there as well. This is a mid-tempo song that perfectly sets up the next track…
Take Another Way is a foot-stomping romp. Banjos, mandolin, acoustic guitar, really get the song moving, right into a great country-rock up-tempo groove. King’s X style vocal harmonies are strategically placed to catch your ear and keeps pushing you forward to yet another catchy chorus that you’ll be singing along with.
The bonus track – Tele Chicken Pickin’ – is also the most guitar-focused song on Puzzle Pieces. The only all-instrumental song on the CD, there is a ton of pedal steel bends, country runs, and great picking. Whereas all of the other songs are instrumentally arranged to complement each other, TCP is definitely a showcase for Mike’s guitar playing. It’s not total country, either. I would put it a little more skewed towards Steve Morse than Johnny Hiland.
All in all, Puzzle Pieces is a very solid songwriters CD and a great showcase of songs you will want to play many, many times. Although you won’t hear as much guitar-centric arrangements that are usually featured on guitar blogs, songwriting is, in my opinion, more important than shredding. I really enjoy listening to how guitars enhance a song rather than dominate. There is just enough great guitar work here to inspire even the most die-hard guitar-only fans, and if you like to sing along while listening then you can’t go wrong here.
For more information, and to purchase Puzzle Pieces, please visit Mike Ian’s website. You can also look forward to hearing Mike play drums on some upcoming Din Within recordings!
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