Bob Norman's debut album, "Romantic Nights on the Upper West Side," is comprised of melodic rhythmic numbers and gentle ballads. Norman’s voice and sound share some qualities with Bruce Cockburn. A former editor of "Sing Out!" magazine, he is well rooted in the folk process of integrating any aspect of life into song. Subjects include loft love-making, city sounds and smells sensed through an airshaft, and poetic reflections on the sanctuary movement. Norman’s twenty years of living in New York City permeate and unify the music, which is entirely self-composed. Performed with a variety of guitars, vocalists and percussion, it has an acoustic feel, solid and airy.
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The title of "Romantic Nights on the Upper West Side" tells the theme throughout, but it doesn't prepare you for the rich tapestry of sometimes almost Caribbean rhythms, sounds, and melodies, which include a wide variety of instrumentation, ranging from fiddles and Andean flutes to saxophones and synthesizers. In contrast to the sophistication of the production (which is by no means overdone), the songs have a refreshing sweet quality about them. Each melody lives in your head for days after the stereo is silent, and there is a simplicity in the lyrics that's almost deceptively seductive. These songs fit like friendly slippers after a long day of waitressing alone in a crowded restaurant of ill-tempered customers.
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Greenwich Village resident Bob Norman has released as his debut "Romantic Nights on the Upper West Side, a collection of original urban folk music which he wrote over the 20 years he lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Thus the music here is a blend of country, blues, and jazzy Caribbean music. Along with Norman’s guitar and harmonica, the instrumentation includes flute, sax, banjo, fiddle, percussion, cuatro and zanka. This is a well recorded and produced set by the former editor of "Sing Out!" Magazine, so the guy knows how to write a folk song. In addition to "Sing Out!", his songs have appeared in "Fast Folk" and "Broadside." This album provides a taste of his eclectic mix of music, a mixture that reflects the diversity of The City That Never Sleeps.
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We all think we know New York City from the zillions of TV shows and movies, and to some extent we do...The title track of Bob Norman’s "Romantic Nights on the Upper West Side" is filled with these familiar images: "If you dropped an egg on the street it would’ve fried"...Bob Norman likes to play with us on this CD. We start to listen to a track like "La Rosita de Broadway" and we think of love and romance, then we realize he is singing about a restaurant... "Airshaft Blues" is another track that transports me back in time and space to a New York of the movies with that feeling of heat and excitement... "Loft Bed Woman" is real down-south blues with a sassy line in patter... "She sleeps 10 feet off the floor," he sings, and then "she can rock me with grace, but when we rolled over a little too far I went sailing into space." Such is the joy of urban loving. Then he brings us back to the serious side of life. "Sanctuary" is a folk song with social awareness... "If it wasn’t for the church that defends us from the law, the agents would send us back to die in El Salvador."... In case you never get to visit New York, buy this album and listen to it in sweltering heat and in searing cold to try to experience that unique place on Earth.
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