Kickback

The album begins with “Prelude.” Ethereal vocal harmonies counterpointed by lonely blues guitar. It sets the mood for the first song “Shadybrook.” Dark imagery abounds, a disturbing scenario of a small town ravaged by sexual murder. Radeff wrote this, partially based on the Jessop/Morin case. Stark lyrics against a background of psychotic piano and guitar slashes. The instrumental outro mounts to a feverish pitch. The next song is sung in French, the beautiful love ballad “Ma Chere Dame”. Radeff is fluent in both of Canada’s official languages. “I Plugged In My Guitar” is up next. The College Music Journal once called Radeff a “guitar genius”. The wailing guitar fade out brings us to “Warm Cuddly Baby,” a charming and infectious tune where DONKEY’s humor is strongly evident. The singalong melody stays in your head long after the song is over. Actually most of the songs on this disc are very catchy. Another track that stands out is “Wartime“. A song about escaping from a war torn country. Radeff says “I met a recent immigrant from Yugoslavia who heard the song and said it was exactly like his experience.” “Wartime” reached the Top 20 in Romania and stayed there for 12 weeks in the summer of 1999, while the Kosovo war raged on. All the selections on “Kickback” are unique unto themselves and well worth checking into to.