Dave Kleiner met Dennis Diken, drummer of the Smithereens, at the album release concert for "The Sounds of Weirdness," a collection of songs about weird things in New jersey, released by (duh) Weird NJ Magazine.
He slipped Dennis a tape of some new songs he had written, and asked Dennis to play drums on a future recording of these songs.
Dennis liked the songs so much he not only played all the drum parts, but produced the CD with his partner, Dave Amels, a top-notch engineer, vintage keyboard fanatic, and co-owner of Voce, a company which replicates vintage keyboard sounds for modern keyboards.
So they went wild, pulling out the old harmonium, mellotron, electric harpsichord, Hammond B-3, and lots of other keyboards, for coloration and that old-fashioned virtue- a record where every song sounds different.
But the heart of the sound is the close empathy between Dave Kleiner and Liz Pagan, his singing and life partner, and the rhythm section of Dennis Diken and veteran bassist Graham Maby, known for his work with Joe Jackson, Natalie Merchant, Shania Twain, They Might Be Giants, and Freedy Johnston.
And the heart within the heart are the songs of Dave Kleiner, never typical, yet always memorable.
The kind of songs that lodge themselves in your brain, and make you smile for no apparent reason in the middle of a business meeting.
Don't fall in love with a Mexican Rabbi.
Love is as big as a horse.
When you assume you make an ass out of you and me.
Wisdom for the ages, and great tunes, too!
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