 |
3
Kasim Sulton
Label: Bug Music
Release Date: October 28, 2014
Review Date: October 26, 2014
Fans of Todd Rundgren – especially his “Utopia” work – as well as fans of Blue Oyster Cult, Meat Loaf, Hall and Oates, Joan Jett, Rick Derringer and a whole host of other huge names will know the music that bassist/keyboardist/vocalist, Kasim Sulton, has been involved with. A quick internet search of his name will blow your mind to the volume and quality of work this man has been involved with. What will stand out is the fact that Kasim wrote Utopia’s only entry into the Top 40: Set Me Free.
Now, with his latest solo album, “3,” will see just exactly what this man is made of, musically, and Sulton pulled out all the stops to offer up a very impressive musical treasure chest.
For starters, Kasim pulled in an amazing array of top shelf, known musicians to help him. Folks like Todd Rundgren (who played guitar and background vocals on “Clocks All Stopped”), Jason Scheff (Chicago), Andy Timmons, Mark Rivera (Billy Joel’s sax man and Ringo Starr’s music director), Roger Powell (Utopia), Willie Wilcox (Utopia), Greg Hawks (The Cars), Buck Dharma (Blue Oyster Cult), Phil Thornalley (Ednaswap, The Cure), Richie Castellano (Blue Oyster Cult), Jeff Kazee (Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes), Mark Alexander (Little Steven), as well as some of the top studio musicians in America.
With this armada of musicians behind Sulton, they all contributed to a rich, amazing album that fans and newcomers, alike, will love. Make no mistake about it, however: Kasim’s musical thumbprints are all over this album with is mastery of guitar, bass, mandolin, piano, organ and other instruments, as well as vocals.
Undoubtedly, the song that will be most talked about from “3” will be, “Clocks All Stopped,” the first single from the album. It’s been said that the song sound a lot like it would be a long lost tune from the Utopia days.
Kasim said of the tune, “I was determined to write a song for this record that paid tribute to the band that started my professional career. The music was the easy part. I never had a problem coming up with a few chord changes reminiscent of Utopia.” The song took two years to get to a point that Sulton was happy with it.
To that point, Sulton said, “As much as this is another track on the record, it’s also a brave attempt to offer a song that sounds like something you would hear on a Utopia record, if Utopia were still making records.”
“Fade Away” was a tune that Sulton started working on while he was touring with Meat Loaf and closes out the album with thought provoking depth. “Too Much On Her Mind” is a tune written by a co-founder of the Tubes, Bill Spooner, and earned repeated slaps of the “repeat” button.
Sulton also tips his hat to the classics with an amazing treatment of the Gershwin brothers standard, “Someone To Watch Over Me.” His piano work on this song is with worth the price of the album, alone.
The rest of the album is amazing, too, and will be an excellent addition to any music lover’s listening library. The CD can be ordered directly from Kasim Sulton at KasimSulton.com.
