For Las Vegas
singer/songwriter
and multi-instrumentalist
Franky Perez
, it's a good thing the
Latin
music flame is burning dim. If his debut,
Poor Man's Son
, would have come out, say, four years previously, it would have automatically been buried in that genre, for no other reasons than his last name and the tinges of Cuban influence that trickled throughout the CD. But now
, which
Perez
recorded with his band,
the Highway Saints
, stands the chance to shine.
's songwriting chops are up there with the underappreciated
Jude Cole
, especially in the opening track,
"Two Lost Angels,"
and the first single,
"Something Crazy."
A tale of a woman who wishes to escape the horrors of domestic abuse and the man who longs to save her,
"Something Crazy"
is powerful -- "She says that she's afraid to leave/She says someday he's gonna kill me/'Cause when he's drunk he talks with his fists."
's songs are at once heartbreaking (
and the
ballad
"Again,"
an urgent love song in which
begs for a second chance), political (
"Cry Freedom,"
no relation to
Bob Marley
), angry (
"Life on the Edge"
), and downright sexy (
"American Classic"
).
drools over his
in Technicolor -- "It's the way she makes me guess/What she's wearing/Under that summer dress/It's the things she implies/In the roundabout way." The son of Cuban emigrants,
is clearly influenced by his heritage, as marked in
"Southwest Side"
and
"Bella Maria."
With Cuban music as a base, he successfully experiments with a buffet of tastes including sultry
blues
,
roots rock
, inoffensive '80s
rock
, and anthemic
pop
. In a nod to his love of early
Stax
Elvis Presley
records, he uses
the Vincent Sisters
the Sweet Inspirations
as backup vocalists. If there's a negative, it's that
is a long project to tackle, with 18 songs. But
is rich with talent. ~ Christina Fuoco