great songs, great voice, great production
author: Trina Chavez
This Cd is a good friend on a rainy, lonely, Sunday afternoon, or on a drive through the woods....
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great songs, great voice, great production
author: Trina Chavez
This Cd is a good friend on a rainy, lonely, Sunday afternoon, or on a drive through the woods....
Read more...
author: madonia
Jam Magazine, South Florida Edition Musician Directory Issue # 251, June 19 - July 2 1998 Review of Deep Sky Florida Independent Reviews Dean Madonia Deep Sky Soft Monkey Music, Inc. **** (four stars) Dean Madonia takes us on an emotional journey with Deep Sky. As composer, arranger, vocalist, guitarist, and keyboard- ist, Madonia is one very talented fellow! The opening tune, "The War Came Home To Me," is a good overall mix of what is to come on the following tracks that range from rocking rhythyms to easy listening ballads. If a hit is a good song that stirs your emo- tions, Madonia has some sure- fire, heartfelt, winners on his hands! "Without A Net' and "Ill Fall in Love Again" are two examples of Madonia's passion. These are truly beautiful ballads that take us on an emotional journey without being "sappy." That's partly due to the order of the tracks. Rocking tunes like "The Falling Of Our Love," "Walking the Solitude," and "Wishbone" fall strategically between the easy listening tunes and ballads. Deep Sky, produced by Madonia and Mark Loren, car- ries your interest the whole way through and is definately a great musical work, with good hooks, instrumentation, vocal displays, and messages. Deep Sky is well worth keeping in your CD library to listen to over and over again. -Deborah Toby
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author: madonia
MTV local, June 9, 1998 Review of Deep Sky A Star For Our Generation Singer/songwriter DEAN MADONIA performed sans band on a recent Saturday at Tuna's, a waterfront bar and grill in North Miami Beach. Despite a rocky start, his solo performance went on without a hitch. His voice is a cross between the late SHANNON HOON of BLIND MELON and PEARL JAM'S EDDIE VEDDER. He performed "I'll Fall In Love Again" and "On The Way Home" from his CD Deep Sky on his own label, Soft Monkey Music Inc. At one point he actually left the stage to personally sing "Happy Birthday" to one lucky lady in the audience! Madonia also performed various cover tunes at the request of the audience. But don't call him Dean when he's performing someone else's material. His moniker is "Underdog" to his loyal fans and friends when he's covering other artists. He plays everything from HOOTIE AND THE BLOWFISH, WALLFLOWERS, TOAD THE WET SPROCKET and NIRVANA to INXS and THE CARS. Dean is very comfortable on stage; this is mostly due to his early beginnings in music. Both he and his father began to take piano lessons when Dean was only eight years old. Once his father worked regular gigs, he'd play during his dad's breaks. His musical repertoire also includes keyboards and guitar. As the writer of his own music and lyrics, Madonia's sound is directly related to his musical influences and personal taste. He says his lyrical influences were artists such as PAUL SIMON, BILLY JOEL, JONI MITCHELL and TORI AMOS. In his music, though, you can really hear undertones of JAMES TAYLOR, TONIC, and COLLECTIVE SOUL. His live performances are great and his album is even better, but if you can't catch him at one of his shows, you can hear him on Sundays during 94.9's "Zeta Goes Local" show, college radio station WVUM, "The Beast and Baker Show" on 790 AM as well as a few underground stations who shall remain nameless. The hardest working guy in the local scene, Dean plays several gigs weekly, performs with his band at local clubs, and recently competed in the "Baywatch Official Battle Of The Bands" as well as touring all over Florida in support of the new album. This talented guy won't be gigging for long. "I would like to get out of the bar business and get into the music business," he told me during one of his breaks. To find out more about DEAN MADONIA and his band, where they'll be performing and where to get the Deep Sky album, visit his website at www.gate.net/~madoniac/deep.html. -- Maxine Hinds MTV College Stringer feedlocal@mtvmail.com (June 9, 1998)
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