Roots and Wings

Perfect. Thank you.

Great

You may know him as the lead guitarist for Ryan Adams and The Cardinals but Neal Casal is actually one of the most underappreciated singer-songwriters living in the U.S. today. For sixteen years now he has been releasing high-quality albums that have been esteemed by an international audience while going largely unnoticed by our fellow Americans. Casal has often been described as hailing from a 1970's Southern California singer-songwriter/country rock tradition and has been compared to the likes of Gram Parsons, Neil Young, and The Eagles.Roots & Wings is Neal Casal's eleventh full-length solo release and he describes it as his best work to date. I concur. The album moves through its seventeen tracks as smoothly as hot summer days move into cool summer nights and back again. This is one of those albums where every song is listenable. No need to touch the skip button on this one.Opening track "The Losing End Again" is a bouncy, mid-tempo number that kicks things off with the kind of acoustic guitar, pedal steel, and organ that has become essential to the signature Casal sound. "Tomorrow's Sky" has a powerfully moody, foreboding quality and is a one-man showcase with the singer accompanying himself on guitar. "So Far Astray" turns into a kind of poppy, big-production 1960's gem with Neal vaulting into high-lonesome Roy Orbison territory when he sings the memorable chorus. Other standout tracks include "Hereby the Sea," "The Cold and the Darkness," and "Cold Waves" - which, taken together seem to point toward the dark, cold ocean as metaphor for the lonesome-longing heart that beats all the way through this remarkably lovely album. One man singing his own beautiful songs beautifully. I love it.

Much of Roots & Wings stands over the line between Country and Americana folk - taking its place amongst the best I have heard.... The rest of the songs and the spirit that runs through all the tracks takes us on a journey that winds between the tall pines that have grown from Casal's Cardinals work and leaves us at the feet of George Harrsion. Here we hear early echoes of the Beatle's accomplished career. Very very enjoyable! This is such feel good music that you almost miss the underlying lyrics. It's hard not to appreciate what unfolds.I will be honest with you... I knew I would like Roots & Wings, but didn't expect to love Casal's new work as much as I do. There are just so many things going on on this record - each done so well, that it's impossible not to enjoy. (Who would have thought an indie rock kid like me would fall so hard for a record built on folk and country fundamentals?!) The reason, I am sure, is the spot-on production, great musicianship and songcraft. Casal is a musical genius. Highly Recommended.

Since 2006's excellent 'No Wish To Reminisce', Neal Casal has been busy as a member of Ryan Adams & The Cardinals. Raising his profile to the point where you would have thought that the release of 'Roots & Wings' could be the album to break him, if not into the big time, then at least to the wider audience that he deserves. That he chooses then to take a less obvious route makes you wonder if he only aspires to retain cult status? To be fair, this isn't the first time that Neal Casal has chosen to make a largely acoustic record. It starts brightly enough with the catchy 'Losing End Again', and it does have it moments throughout. The stripped back and folky 'Tomorrow's Sky' & 'Turn For The Worse', the country shuffle of 'A Year & A Day' and 'Hereby The Sea', with its pedal steel, are just a few of those. If there is a problem, it's not with the quality of the songs. Rather that it is all too pleasant. Content to drift by, without ever breaking into a sweat, it offers no more than we have come to expect from him, which leaves me feeling somewhat underwhelmed. If this is your introduction to Neal Casal, then there should be enough here, i hope, to lead you to his earlier albums, which i would recommend!

This is melodic Americana and it's not unpleasant on the ears, the problem is nothing stands out, it's worth a listen but I guarantee you wont play this CD much once you've bought it. I think the albums that Neal Casal has released on Fargo aren't a patch on the stuff he did with Glitterhouse.

Unlike one of the other reviewers I've played this a lot and the tunes just start to stick in your head. Like Ryan Adams' albums and Neal's earlier albums this is one that repays a little attention so I recommend it highly.

Neal Casal "diamant le mieux caché d'Amérique" ? Peut-être.Son dernier album est celui de la perfection.Le genre de disque qui ne frappe pas dès la première écoute mais qui impose que l'on y revienne pour apprécier la finesse des compositions, l'ampleur du son et l'immense talent du bonhomme.Je dois en être à ma vingtième écoute et je continue de découvrir des choses : un arpège au troisième plan, un gimmick en filigrane, un couplet au nième degré.Intemporelle est peut-être l'adjectif qui définit le mieux la musique de Neal Casal un diamant américain qu'il ne faut pas méconnaître.

前作「No Wish to Reminisce」ではストリングス等々を盛り込み広がりのあるルーツロックサウンドを展開していたが、本作はシンプル、Neal Casalの生をそのまま音に落としたようなアコースティック・ロック・アルバムとなっている。アコギとペダルスティール、ときにオルガン、マンドリン、フルートを後ろに聴かせて、Neal Calsaの真摯かつ繊細なボーカルを支えている。そして、何と言っても曲が素晴らしい。これだけシンプルな編成にしたのも頷けるような、個性ある曲が詰まっている。ニュートラルかつナチュラルな楽曲と、湿りと温もりが混在したサウンド、そして表現力の増したNeal Casalの唄声が素晴らしい良盤。