#2 in his best of list
author: Bruce Bennett
This is his 2nd best CD of his catalog so far. The best is minutes from midnight from 2004. He is a smart songwriter with style and good arrangements.
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More up scale/smarter sound than Neil Young, Just as real
author: Thomas M. Burgess
I hear a lot of Neil young in him, but he is more up-scale.
There is a smarter sound to Ian's playing. He's up-to-date.
Just as real.
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Wow, I love this CD more and more and more...
author: Michelle Walker
What a great CD. I was at a friends house and they were playing it. I found myself completely distracted by the melodies, the simple, soft voice and poetic lyrics that felt as though they were taunting me to listen a little harder.
Well, I am.
It's great. I now have this one and his latest which is different from this (less country, more alt-country). But, excellent. Beyond excellent. I recommend him very much.
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Heavens' Key
author: Starpolish
The beginning of “Heaven’s Key” immediately evokes early Rod Stewart ballads like “I Don’t Want to Talk About It,” but the song truly develops its own personality as it goes. Charles’s voice has the right balance of solidity and newness, bringing out the emotion in the lyric and building to a near-perfect crescendo -- which he surprisingly reins in at the end. If the song were mine to play with, I’d want to hear some large Hammond organ chords offset the piano and highlight the elegiac nature of the piece. But working with what is here, I’m impressed with this confessional country-tinged folk ballad, though I hope he gives the MP3 a re-encoding that isn’t quite so brittle.
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