The Greater Good. The Greater Good

You can listen to four songs of the album here.

After a show with some beautiful music and great singing I went home with the album, anxious to hear more of the collaboration of the three singer-songwriters. Dennis Kolen is from Rotterdam, NL, Eugene Ruffolo from NYC and Shane Alexander from LA. They met through Dennis Kolen and decided to record an album together in the spring of 2011 in Germany. Each brought three songs and they did one cover, 'Tell me why' by uncle Neil. Influence wise this man is so huge. Almost no americana show without a Neil Young cover. It wasn't till autumn 2012 that a Dutch audience got to hear the result. (Read the review here.)

The first thing one notices from the cover, that it is a good old-fashioned LP sleeve kind of photo shoot and lay out. Several people went home with the LP version of the record I noticed. I have to be honest here, I've tended to become to lazy to even stick a cd into a player these days. In my defense that in part has to do with the locations in which I listen to music mostly. That aside, what is The Greater Good like?

The Greater Good @Q-Bus, by Wo.

In one sentence: the show at the Q-Bus did the record right. The record is even more laid back that the show. Playing and singing are more delicate. The listener is treated to bare songs. Three acoustic guitars and as an exception an organ in the back ground. An electric guitar intro once. The voices, alone and together in harmony, add to the sound or better make up the sound of the album. This album is about singing, the pure joy of it. Three voices that blend, that twist around each other and weave in and out of the bigger picture.

Every influence from the U.S.'s more traditional music comes by. Crosby, Stills & Nash foremost in the way The Greater Good harmonises and the way the songs are not your every day sing-a-long kind, but are serious, sometimes even moody songs, like 'On an afternoon just like today' shows. This is a true beauty of a song sung and written by Ruffolo. In Shane Alexander's 'Nowhere fast' the rhythm nearly disappears, but is impressive and sang so well that to me it is an instant winner. 'Ghost from my past' is my Dennis Kolen favourite on this album. Ink dark, without harmonies, for most of the song. A broken heart and and broken mind. There's a lot to heal in this song.

I'm picking out these three songs, but the other seven do not exactly stand in the shadow of these two. All three singers give each other the room to shine and assist in making the song better in the way they play a specific guitar part and sing harmonies. After ten songs its all over and I want to put on the record again, proving that what I've written here is completely correct. The Greater Good just begs for more, indeed for the greater good. Which includes you dear reader!

Wo.

You can order The Greater Good here.