Search - Chin Ho! :: Big Crowd

Chin Ho! - Burlington's favorites, astounding music

Brandon Cotter (scrotor40@hotmail.c | Lake Placid, NY | 11/20/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Several years ago, a CD was released called "Sounds around Burlington (VT)." On it was a gem called "Sarah". Lyrically astounding, musically meritorious, it featured two men with guitars singing, "Oh my God, stay away from Sarah." Simple enough. But I was enchanted by both voices, notably guitar\vocalist Dave Morency wailing in the background, "Staaay awaaay..." This was where I first heard Chin Ho!. I had to have more; I am now a devoted acolyte. Buying "Big Crowd" and their 1995 release "Exhaust" were two of the best decisions ever I made. In fact, they just celebrated another release I plan to acquire with all possible swiftness Chin Ho!'s music ranges from folk to rock, with a tinge of funk in between. The band sports five members now, but the original two from "sounds," Dave Morency and Andrew Smith, lead with increasingly strident guitar plucking and ever inspired lyrics and vocals. Along with great quirky-love-song-fare a la Barenaked Ladies are very Cracker-esque tunes (my favorites, reveling in silliness) like "Hippie Girl" ("Gonna get me a hippie girl, and learn to recycle") and "Phish Sticker" ("I wish I was a Phish sticker, then I would be everywhere" - this is Vermont, remember). Phishheads, Deadheads, Dylan neohippies, punks, lovers, Ben Folds fans, Ween-ers - you know who you are - you will love Chin Ho!. Buy Big Crowd and support the Burlington music scene! Drop me an e-mail and I'll send you a listen.A loyal fanOne addition: "Big Crowd" calls itself an EP, listing only five songs, but has another dozen or so after the listed songs (including "Hippie Girl" and "Phish Sticker"), so fret not about the length."

Vermont isn't Just for Phish Anymore, Chin Ho! Rocks!

12/23/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Chin Ho! has released six albums of modern rock songs. This is their third and I think the songs were released as singles first. I have "World" on vinyl, anyway. "Jan Michael Vincent" is a quirky pop song about the inevitable cycle of love and features some very sexy vocals by Andrew Smith (who I hear is a gay icon in certain quarters) and Starlight Conspiracy singer Jan Tofferri. Starlight is on Catapult Records out of Boston, by the way. "World" is a cranking, reeling pop rocker with some truly classic lyrics like "I saw your sister/She said your family hates me/and she said that's why you like me/and she said she thinks you're crazy/Said I'm just a loser/Said I'm just using you/SAid you'e going to try and save me/because you're the patron saint of losers." Obviously, I like this band a lot. Buy this CD because their first album "Drink" is included as a hidden bonus track, and it's out of print otherwise."