Hugh Dillon - Works Well With Others
Like many, i first encountered Hugh Dillon on the insanely good Canadian television series "Durham County" where he plays the completely out of his mind, super violent cop Mike Sweeney, Hugh also stars in a series called "Flashpoint" where he plays a sniper for a swat team or something, I've never actually cared for or watched that series. Now you might question why I'm actually promoting an album by someone who is famous in another field, well, thats a simple answer, for 20 years before Hugh got into acting, he had been playing a distinct brand of hard rock meets blues rock all around Canada, even gaining a rather noted amount of success in the 1990s with his old band The Headstones, who happen to be one of my favorite Canadian rock bands of the 1990s in case you were wondering. And its based on that, not his recent turn to acting and the fame its garnered him that makes me want to share this album with you, plus, its a really good album and i'm pretty sure it'll get dismissed as just some famous guy attempting to cash as much in on his fame as possible unless you know who he is and his history. Its not too hard, not to soft, not to gritty, its kind of like a brownie in music form if you will allow for the sarcastically funny metaphor.
The album starts off with "Friends Of Mine", which if I recall happens to also be the lead off single of the album. As you'll be able to tell by the video embedded below, its a nice pop friendly rock song, not to hard, not to soft, somewhere nice and in the middle, a nice introduction to Hugh's work if you've never heard it before really. Following that is "Sentimental Me", a nice mellow song that finds hugh reflecting on many things, this song has a brilliant opening few bars and a great guitar riff and has this whole bar song feel to it, its great. Next is "well On Your Way" a nice faster pace song which has Hugh looking forward and sending someone he cares about away because he feels they deserve better then him, its a nice enjoyable track honestly. Following that is "Ten Feet Tall" which has this completely awesome 1970s southern rock feel to it with a guitar riff and feel that sounds something like a ZZ Top song if ZZ Top were Canadian, its a great upbeat catchy bouncy song its totally awesome. After that is "Surface Of The Sun", which is a nice slow down then speed up song about how life should not always get you down no matter what comes your way, that reminds me abit of a slower Tragically Hip song, but thats understandable, there is alot of The Tragically Hip in Hugh's music, and I like that just fine. After that is "reel to Reel" a song that starts out with a brilliant stevie wonder style opening, and has a nice upbeat flow to it that has Hugh looking at his life talking about his if its his time to leave the spotlight he'll just quietly bow out with out flair and notice. Next up is "Lucky" a nice rock blues style song that seems downtempo and relaxed for this album, its a really good track, its followed by "Lost At Sea" which is a great downtempo moody song, thats all awesome and hypnotic. From there the album's second half kicks in, with songs like "Raido Plays", "Bottom of a Dream", "My Mistakes", "Ignore that Call", "Puzzle I am", and finally "Don't Be Fooled". All rather good songs, and abit more of a rocky feel to them, with "Puzzle I am" being the stand out really, its all a great disc and a joy to listen to over all.
Now, the big question, is this really for everyone? Sure i'd think so, its mellow enough for those who like mellow, its rock enough for rockers, and blues enough for the blues lovers. I feel most people will enjoy "Puzzle I Am" the most, but thats just me, and a personal favorite, but please if you are up for something different and not exactly what you'd expect, then give this a listen, hopefully, you'll enjoy it as much as I have.
Here is a video for Hugh's song "Friends of mine"
Artist: Hugh Dillon
Album: Works Well With Others
Genre: Rock, Blues, Pop
Homepage: Hugh Dillon's Homepage
Myspace: Hugh Dillon's Band On Myspace
Download: Download The Album Here
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BC
