Search - Richard Swift :: Dressed Up for the Letdown

Dressed Up, but Decidedly NOT a Letdown

Black Eagle Child | Wisconsin | 04/20/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Richard Swift is a crooner. Like his contemporaries Rufus Wainwright (primarily on his first record) and M. Ward ("Transistor Radio"), he reaches back into American history of music and songwriting, digging up and effectively reviving the sounds of American radio from the *time* of the radio.



"Dressed Up..." is a continuation of the rainy day style that Swift so successfully hammered out on his previous two mini-albums. The orchestration features traditional rock pieces, along with all-american upright piano and moderate use of jazz-tinged horn. The songwriting is emotional but not gushy. He is above all things a cynic and so naturally the cynical tone come across in his music. A few of my favorite lines are "I'm alive...so tell my daughters not to cry" and "...Christ, he was strange but he was nice...they tried to kick his a**; he didn't fight back."



This new record is clearly more professionally produced than his previous material, but this fact is not made evident in a negative way. There are things like cross-fading across tracks, but the overall feel of the record succeeds in keeping with that vintage American style. Well-produced and well-written, "Dressed Up for the Letdown" is a great piece of American pop and I really can't believe I'm only the 2nd person to review this record (which has been out for 3 months already!) on Amazon. Throw away your Jack Johnson and John Mayer CDs and buy this!"

Dressed Up for the Big Time

A. Lynch | Autumn Mists, Honalee | 04/26/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I read a series of absolutely glowing reviews for this album, and, so consistent were they in their praise of Mr. Swift, I decided I'd scoop up a copy. I'm very glad I did, because it's an early contender for album of the year. Mr. Swift is clearly influenced by Randy Newman, which is about as far from a bad thing as you can get in music. The songs are singable, the words are clever ("I played your heart, but I broke two strings"), and the music is expertly crafted. I look forward to his albums in the future."