Peter Lewis "The Road To Zion" CD

August 02, 2019  /  John DeNicola

 New Music “The Road To Zion” released July 16, 2019

  Early in his long and winding odyssey, Peter Lewis played a crucial part in the creation of that rare beast, the perfect rock & roll album: Moby Grape, a legendary union of guitars, voices and brotherhood made in a now-distant American age, the psychedelic San Francisco of 1967. Many miles later, Peter has made his best record as a singer, songwriter and spiritual explorer: The Road to Zion, new stories of wanderlust, fortune, trial and committment that still carry the living glow and redemptive power of that great band. The first steps here – the title song's haze of dreamy guitars and gentle vocal assurance – sound as if Peter has just returned from the original trip. But like his best songs for the Grape – "Sitting by the Window" on that first LP; "He" on 1968's Wow; the gorgeous Moby Grape '69 miniature "What's to Choose" – the day-glo-country twang of "Down by the Water" and the jangling march "In This Place" come with a kick inside: the cycle of sorrow and lessons that, in time, lead to light. The circular haunting in "Nobody's Love" is the past in a bracing, present tense – Peter wrote it with Grape-guitar brother Jerry Miller – while the taut explosion of 12-string soloing in "Journey to the Crossroads" brings Peter's guitar gifts to the fore.  Count the years on the way to The Road to Zion, and you find an astonishing statistic: It is only Peter's third solo album. But he never lost the path or mission. "I know we'll meet again, this you can rely on," Peter promises in "The Road to Zion." Relish the searching and ringing guitars here, until the next time.

 

David Fricke

May, 2019

Multiple Great Reviews For Fovea Release "Pencil Me In"

December 28, 2017  /  John DeNicola

Nooga.com Review of The Sighs "Wait On Another Day"

August 14, 2017  /  John DeNicola

The Sighs, “It’s Real”
It’s been 20 years since we last heard from Massachusetts rock band The Sighs-since the release of their last record, 1996’s “Different.” But after finding a box of early demos and analog tapes that were made at the band’s house studio back in the ’90s, the band found the inspiration to rework these songs and revisit the sounds that feel so revitalized now. With producer John DeNicola manning the boards at his studio in upstate New York, they approached the recording of these tracks with a newfound sense of creativity and freedom. The resulting sessions would form the basis of their forthcoming album, “Wait on Another Day,” due Sept. 8 via Omad Records.

On their latest single, “It’s Real,” the band roars through a power-pop environment where guitars lash out and melodies cut through the air in front of your face. Full of ecstatic hooks and driving rhythms, the track imagines what might happen if Big Star and The Replacements were ever to jam together in an enclosed space. There’s definitely a bit of nostalgia in their uproarious alt pop noise, but the band isn’t merely ceding to their desire to reclaim some past glories. The music is imbued with a fierce catchiness, giving the band a perfect foundation from which to refamiliarize people with their unique brand of primordial pop catharsis and revitalize a sound that hasn’t felt relevant in quite some time.

 

 

Le Rug

January 02, 2017  /  sean mosher

John continues to produce and work with new undiscovered talent. He is currently working with and producing “Le Rug” having produced two cd’s with them. He’s hoping he has the same success as Maroon 5, an early discovery and production of John’s when they were called Kara’s Flowers.