Rocking out smartly

Reviewed May 2008

What Eric Hutchinson's debut CD, "Sounds Like This," sounds like is early Billy Joel, when Joel was still capable of rocking out yet was already writing smart, intelligent pop songs.

In his liner notes, Hutchinson (who plays piano and sings) points out that band, contractual and financial crises combined to delay the completion and release of this album for six years. Maybe that struggle is what forged such a complete album: He is confident in his vocals, the band is tight, the arrangements are clever (but not too much).

The 10 songs he's written include a couple gems: the reggae-tinged "Rock & Roll," "It Hasn't Been Long Enough" and the opening track, "OK, It's Alright With Me." But every song here is intriguing and melodic, with not one that could be classified as filler.

Review by Jim Trageser. Jim is a writer and editor living in Escondido, Calif., and was a contributor to the "Grove Press Guide to Blues on CD" (1993) and "The Routledge Encyclopedia of the Blues" (2005).