Ben Stack

kurt
Fri Dec 25 00:46:06 2009

citymousebc
Fri Dec 25 00:46:02 2009

susanhanim
Fri Dec 25 00:46:12 2009

pamelaholt
Fri Dec 25 00:46:09 2009

bigdavyc
Fri Dec 25 00:46:00 2009

ideogram
Fri Dec 25 00:45:57 2009

sallyrosaszabarburu
Fri Dec 25 00:46:11 2009

aericsmith
Fri Dec 25 00:45:59 2009

iolanthe
Fri Dec 25 00:46:04 2009

lrak
Fri Dec 25 00:46:07 2009

jonwoode
Fri Dec 25 00:45:58 2009

yuhannl
Fri Dec 25 00:46:14 2009

danpugh
Fri Dec 25 00:46:03 2009

The song starts with a nice groove and sets itself out as a largely riff based and ‘feel’ orientated track quite early on. Lyrically, the song has an obvious title and repetition is used effectively to make it clear. However, there appears to be some stinted development in the lyrical content in the A section. It repeats word for word the second time round, and seeing as the musical elements are very repetitive, it would have been good to hear more variation in the lyrics at this point.

Musically, it’s good to hear the B section making a relatively early appearance, and it works well where it appears. It keeps the vibe going well but adds enough variation to keep things interesting. However, the song does start to get a little too repetitive after a while and it would have been good to include a bit more variation after a couple of minutes to maintain interest. A shift in chords or a definite new melodic line would have really helped lift the track at this point I think.

On the whole, the track moves along nicely with a good feel and catchy memorable hook, but it does suffer slightly from a lack of development towards the end. You seem to have a good natural sensibility for crafting a song. I would suggest that you think a little more about how you can incorporate variation more effectively into the track.

20/30
dannycope

As a song I didn’t think this was particularly effective. There’s no doubting Ben’s ability as an agile and talented guitarist and I enjoyed the guitar riff. I also liked the melody on the repeated line ‘I’ve Got You On My Mind’, but it was ultimately repetitive and the lyrics felt basic. It could benefit from a tighter arrangement, more structure and better lyrics. The best parts were the guitar playing and the improvised section.

I think you’re obviously a talented and energetic guitarist. I didn’t feel that this song reflected well on your abilities as a songwriter or vocalist. It might be worth thinking about the way you record your voice and where you put it in the mix (use of tracking, mics, reverb and compression etc).

15/30
tomlewis

This song has some nice guitar but the lyrics and melodies are predictable. The tune was rather repetitive and melodically stunted, try and listen to some Davey Graham for some inspiration.

12/30.
mickglossop

There’s a real sense of trying to emulate Van Morrison’s idiosyncratic style here, but unfortunately, it doesn’t really hit the mark for me. The scat solo seems a little forced also!

There is no real sense of momentum in this track, its pretty meandering and jerky structure-wise. The intro is nice enough, but not a strong enough idea to sustain interest for a whole song. The whole thing feels like a jam around the beginnings of an idea that with a good bit of work could be crafted into an interesting song.

There’s a nice quality to your voice, I think you triy to convey some real feeling in this performance. your definitely paying attention to his delivery! The tuning issues however are very distracting. The whole performance needs some attention in this respect.

Overall, its not a terrible vocal at all, it just needs a lot of work to bring it up to a stellar level!

Solo acoustic guitar and vocals with a folksy feel is one of the hardest genres to break new ground or to really shine in and I don’t think Ben is there yet. When I listen to songs like these, I imagine myself at an open mic night and wonder if I would think it stood out against the many many acts of this type I’ve seem before and unfortunately I don’t think this song or performance would…

Vocal-wise, I would suggest finding a great teacher local to you and starting a serious regime of practice and lessons. You will be building on good foundations so it should be a worthwhile and fun journey! I would recommend really breaking down the construction of some classic songs by artists such as John Martyn, Van Morrison, Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake and see if what you get from this excites you at all with regard to your own writing.

12/30
emreramazanoglu

I found this track to be quite repetitive and boring, harmonically, melodically and lyrically. The vocals sound good but the performance is unimaginative and lacked any real communication. There was very little production on the song and too much reverb on the guitar, try to be more direct, open and less derivative.

9/30
haydnbendall