The Press of Atlantic City - Atlantic City, NJ Weekly Entertainment Section - "At The Shore" August 23, 2002 by: Scott Cronick - - - - Rating System: **** (4 Stars) - No-brainer *** (3 Stars) - Buy It ** (2 Stars) - Borrow It * (1 Star) - Don't Bother - - - - - Red, "Nothing Means Anything" (Permanent Music) - Verse Chorus Verse Music, ASCAP - - - - - Rating: * * * (3 Stars) - - - - - One of the area's hidden musical treasures, Red finally release this 11-song rockfest that was mostly worth the wait. Led by singer / guitarist Andy Schlee who writes all of the songs here, Red has enough musical talent to match anyone, but the secret ingredient here is Schlee's songwriting. Schlee's eclectic styles - ranging from the Alice In Chains meets Smashing Pumpkins "Spoiler" to the Stone Temple Pilots-like "Here We Go" to the Beatles-era pop like "High" to the classic rock anthem "Was I Wrong" - display a songwriter capable of crossing genres without trepidation. . . . Between Schlee's clean vocals, Danny Eyer's blistering guitar work and Bob Kimmel's pounding drums, "Nothing Means Anything" could mean something if it was given a chance by a small label. - - Scott Cronick

Red - Nothing Means Anything - by Alex Greenberg from The Pennsylvania Musician Magazine - April 2003 Issue - Volume XXI - #243 - Page 33 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * This five piece band that hails from, in their own words, “deep in the bog iron, cedar water, sugar sand, matchstick timberlands of Jersey.” Featuring the prodigious song writing, playing and production skills of Andy Schlee, this album is recorded beautifully. Bob Kimmel’s drums have a marvelous Stewart Copeland sharp punch. The electric guitars are fat and hit like a tidal wave and the keyboard, vocal and acoustic guitar sounds are so colored and varied that you almost sprain your inner ear trying to keep up. The material is demanding from the standpoiunt that there is startling juxtaposition within and between the songs, but this serves to set the band apart from the vast majority of singer-songwriter driven bands. There are occasional invocations of the Beatles through lilting vocal phrasing and guitar solos and melodies, but done with the sort of scope and ambition that Jeff Lynne used when he cropped from the fab four back in ELO. These are countered with the knowledge that a well-placed ragged barrage of electric guitars can temper this proclivity enouch to keep the material dangerious. Schlee’s lyrics are great; at times menacing and expository, at other times introspective and cynical. Collections this good confirm my sneaking suspicion that there is really no such thing as an “overproduced” CD. If one person plays six instruments and each song has simultaneous sounds from the womb, an 18-wheeler and a cheese grater, it still boils down to whether the songs are good or not. The difference is that when the material is really there, the production and instrumentation (particularly self-production) enhance it and tell you more about how the artist hears the songs. That aside aside, nearly everything is here. A complex, quality and original band and CD.

Review from Amplifier Magazine - Issue #36 - May/June 2003 - Appearing on page 60 - by Tom Semioli * * * * * * * * * * Red is big. And throughout "Nothing Means Anything," size matters. Drawing from a deep well of progressive, pop, classic rock and metal, this impressive, self-produced debut delivers hooks and grooves aplenty in all the right places, especially with "Little Monsters" and "High," two cuts primed for modern rock heavy rotation. With occasional bleeps and studio trickery, Red's four vocal attack and instrumental expertise burst through the dark corridors of "Ultraviolet" and the sunshine sentiment of "Gimme Some Back."