BRIAN OLIVE s/t reviews

If you ever heard anything by the now defunct Soledad Brothers, you’d understand why it’s exciting that former member Brian Olive has an album out. The Soledads were masters of taking a Southern rock angle to soul music, garage punk, and the blues. On his self-titled debut, Brian hones that sound down to a couple of definitive influences, staying more rootsy than garage-oriented.
His record has a nice mix of Memphis soul, ’70s Dylan, relaxing acoustic music, and, of course, a tinge of that country fried sound. But what’s most impressive about Brian’s debut is that while you can draw lines to influences and ponder on what else he sounds like, this record isn’t a ’70s Dylan clone album by a long shot. This is a well put together, well written, and well executed debut from an extremely talented dude. – Five Tunes
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The heart of industrial America – The Motor City, The Rubber City, The Blue Chip City, The Glass City – have all been a breeding ground for the outlaws of new millennium blues. An unofficial brotherhood of musicians played the same dingy clubs, stirred up a similar media buzz, and over the past decade, each has slowly gained national appeal. Detroit’s White Stripes hit the airwaves first, followed by Akron, Ohio’s The Black Keys, and finally, members of the Cincinnati-based Greenhornes joined Jack White for The Raconteurs in 2007.
Then there’s the elusive Brian Olive. Under the stage name Oliver Henry, he served time for panhandling on street corners, he once wooed Meg White, and most importantly, he was the under-rated multi-instrumentalist for two seminal bands, The Greenhornes and Toledo’s Soledad Brothers. Oddly enough, he was right in the thick of the blues-rock resurgence when he went rogue, changed his name, and started a solo career.
One might think that working with such prolific peers would inspire a parallel musical direction, but Olive claims the very opposite. On his history with The White Stripes, Olive politely shares, “creatively, I think those relationships have affected me in positive way”. Mostly by helping me realize what I don’t want to do”, he says.
And so abandoning the alias of O. Henry helped give Olive the clean slate he was looking for. “It was a good time being Oliver Henry”, he recalls, “but now I’m in a more focused state of mind.” That newfound focus has led him to a hippie-like horizon, awakening listeners with a psychedelic sunrise full of fuzzy happy sunbeams.
Olive’s new sound doesn’t come as a surprise – his background in piano and saxophone finds him better suited for soul shakedowns than the sad sack of blues he left behind. Releasing June 23rd on Alive Records, his debut solo album is an abrupt departure from that former self. The self-titled record is more gypsy pop than garage rock, more of a 60’s love-in than a nod to Howlin’ Wolf. – Audra Tracy / The Waster
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Brian Olive’s a name unfamiliar to most everyone. Oliver Henry, though, will be instantly identifiable to garage fans, as he was a member of both the Soledad Brothers and the Greenhornes. Now working under the pseudonym Brian Olive, Henry’s put together a new project and delved into other sides of the ’60s entirely. Foregoing garage’s frenzy, his band instead frolic in strawberry fields of psychedelia, albeit fields planted across the deltas and studios of the deep south.
Sure, "Ida Red" and "Calling All Around," the tracks that bookend Brian Olive, rock and roll in best R&B style, but the Stax-y brass and wisps of psychedelia give the tracks an unusual twist. Retro in style, but thoroughly original in sound, Brian Olive doesn’t so much resurrect Sixties R&B as totally reinvent it. His influences are numerous and diverse – The Beatles, The Stones (Rolling and Roses), Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, Stax soul, glamrock, and dreampop. "There Is Love," for example, is blues filtered through the latter genre, "Jubilee Line" wafts psychedelia through the Stax studio, while "High Low" floods the delta with jazzy brass and big band beats.
Of course, Brian Olive isn’t the first to stitch genres together, they are, however, one of the few to sew them together seamlessly. Their music sounds so totally natural you can walk away from Brian Olive believing that psychedelia, blues, R&B and soul were always intertwined and natural bed-fellows. Reshaping the past, the album presents an alternate musical history where linear evolution is replaced by spontaneous genesis, and what a wonderful creation it is. – Jo-Ann Greene / Goldmine
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Henry Oliver (aka Brian Olive) is ex Soledad Brothers and Greenhornes guitarist whose solo debut is a richly imbedded Stax-influenced late 60’s, early 70’s rock & roll circus. Throughout the album, Oliver introduces a colorful assortment of music, ranging from the beatnik Jazz persuasion, saddled by a little British Glam, or riving Chicago Blues. – Electric Soul
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Drawing inspiration from ‘60s psych-pop, after-hours jazz, and ‘70s glam stomp, Brian Olive, the onetime Greenhornes guitarist and Soledad Brothers multi-instrumentalist, steps out of the shadows cast by the Midwest garage-blues scene and into the light on his self-titled debut. Although it meant moving to Cincinnati and helping to build a recording studio in the vault of a pawn shop, the artist formerly known as Oliver Henry definitely proves being your own man can pay dividends. Helped out by ex-bandmates Jared McKinney and Craig Fox from the Greenhornes and with spectral backing supplied by Donna Jay Rubin and sisters Holly and Tori Kadish on the majority of songs, Olive drifts through an array of styles and imaginative arrangements during the album’s 33 minutes with “King of the Road” aplomb. There’s a gentle nod to both the Kinks and the Beatles in the marshmallow melody of “The Day is Coming (Sainte-Marie’s Dream)”; a gritty, down-in-the gutter piece of Detroit R&B called “Stealin’”; and a feral sax punch plus a cellar full of Beat-cool jazz on “High Low”. Meanwhile, the girls are most noticeable oozing through on the muddied country-blues raunch of opener “Ida Red” and the ghostly, fluttering psych swirl of “See Me Mariona”, a song reminiscent of contemporaries Pink Mountaintops. The highlight, however, has to be the tambourine-shakin’, sax-laden slice of glam-ourized R&B, “Jubilee Line”, which yields Olive’s most confident vocal outing and a kick-ass trip on the Tube through London to boot. – Alan Brown / PopMatters
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Since I missed the ’70s and blindly followed the "Proud to be Drug Free" crowd in the ’80s, Brian Olive is filling in the blanks for me. If I fell asleep to this record I’m sure I’d dream myself into New Orleans sometime in the ’70s, chemical high and all. The music is as colorful as the album cover, and sounds like a stack of beatnik, jazz, and psychedelic records melted into one soundtrack to a ’70s brown-hued television show. I think I’m gonna need a brownie. – 3Hive
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Unexpected is just how much musical ground is covered in this gem of a record, and with such cohesive results. There’s the upbeat horn-and piano-infused New Orleans parade of "The Day the Sun Is Coming (Sainte-Marie’s Dream)," the swagger of "Stealin’" and rollicking "Ida Red." Throughout much of the record, Donna Jay Rubin and Holly and Tori Kadish lend their backing vocals for melodies that add soul and depth without ever being superfluous. "High Low" is aptly named, with its low sax and drums rumble laced with intricate bits of guitar. "See Me Mariona" is fully psychedelic-the Stone Roses meet 007 circa ’67. – Josie Rubio / The Agit Reader
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Brian Olive has been out of the music spotlight since the Soledad Brothers disbanded. His debut album is nothing slight of remarkable. Amazing guitar work and horns all over this album. A very soulful and rump shaking affair this one. – The Optimist Syndicate
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On his self-titled debut record, Olive puts together a slightly fuzzed up psychedelic release that spans different eras of rock to actually create a very modern and likable record. The album has a laid back vibe, which just lets tracks roll such as the strumming peaceful flow of "Echoing Light" and the catchy trip he provides on one of the records catchiest numbers "There Is Love". – The Fire Note
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The throwback "Ida Red" starts off with a bang ahead of the twangier "The Day Is Coming (Sainte-Marie’s Dream)" that screams ‘play me’ in a packed dive bar. But oddly though, it’s the more laid-back tracks like the pseudo-boss nova number "Echoing Light" and the folksy ballad "There Is Love" that actually evoke the most memories of a life better enjoyed without a single care in the world. The same goes for the R&B pop of "Jubilee Line" and the strangely seductive jazz offering in "High Low."
Brian Olive is an extremely diverse album that maximizes the use of simplicity with not a whole lot of fluff and excess. If "Stealin’" sounds rough as if it were recorded live, then you’re partially correct. The Ohio-native Brian Olive used analog tape for the sessions and the natural and cool atmosphere is definitely preserved in his brisk, yet filling debut. – Blogcritics
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Throughout the album, Oliver introduces a colorful assortment of musical styles, ranging from psychedelic roots rock (“See Me Mariona”) to British glam (“There Is Love”) and Chicago blues (“Calling All Around”). And, like his predecessors, Oliver smartly engages an all-female back-up vocal crew, generating seduction and adding the perfect dose of tension. In many ways, Exile On Main Street feels the same way. Like the Stones, Oliver shape-shifts his brooding love for dirty Blues and Memphis horns, yet offering less animosity to his listeners. Brian Olive is an album of gritty retrospection. If you’re a fan of the classics like I am, look no further; this is your album of 2009. – Carnie Fulton / The Owlmag
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I woke up this morning, listened to this track and had an overwhelming urge to put on my bell bottom jeans and go pick daisies – in Golden Gate Park, of course. The sleepy, sexy, ‘let’s shag, baby’ sound of Brian Olive’s solo debut is a great way to start the day. Peace, love and rock-n-roll. – the OCMD
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BRIAN OLIVE is an impressive and pleasing solo debut that shows his chops as a producer, arranger, and songwriter make him more than just some Midwest sideman, and he should get back into the studio posthaste if there’s more where this came from. – Andrew Bryant / The Disc Exchange
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Live review on the Random Old Records blog
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Brian spent time as a member of a couple of other well known Cincinnati bands in The Soledad Brothers and The Greenhornes and while the mention of those two probably gets peoples attention, his solo album stands alone and shows his fellow former bandmates have nothing on him when it comes to creativity. – Each Note Secure
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"There Is Love," a tasty, narcotic slice of dreamy Psychedelia. – City Beat
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More than a mere garnish for a martini, Cincinnati’s Brian Olive has crafted a haunting, ethereal sound that washes over the listener with a lazy insistence that one can’t help but fall prey to. “There Is Love” is a welcome preview from Olive’s up-coming full length release on Alive Natural Sound Records and this first installment seamlessly blends subdued rock elements with washes of psychedelic fuzz and dreamy cymbal crashes. With Olive’s breathy voice beckoning the listener to “follow [him]“, one cannot help but succumb to this lyrical insistence, blindly bobbing one’s head along with the vaguely psychedelic sounds. – Stereo Subversion
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"Brian Olive goes solo" – interview with Brian Olive for Metromix Cincinnati
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"Brian Olive Rises Up" – interview with Brian Olive for City Beat
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Most of the tunes on Brian Olive are rooted in rhythm & blues in one way or another, but the man sure isn’t shy about showing how many ways he can bend the sound to his will; "Stealin’" is a funky New Orleans second-line shuffle, "Jubilee Line" has a bassline James Jamerson would have been happy to call his own fortified with free jazz sax wailing, "High Low" reveals echoes of 1950s cool jazz for bachelor pads, and "Killing Stone" is a piano-based rocker that recalls the early-’70s Rolling Stones. Olive also dips his toes into breezy faux-tropicalia on the light and sensuous "Echoing Light" and some tripped-out acoustic psychedelia on "There Is Love." Olive clearly scores high on the eclecticism checklist, but he’s also a fine songwriter, generating memorable tunes regardless of his stylistic bag. – Mark Deming / AMG
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The album is a swirl of psychedelia underpinned with classic rock, Martin Denny exotica, and Southern roots swagger, all recorded in the former vault of a Hamilton Avenue pawnshop in Northside. All of the session players had local ties, from the Greenhornes’ Jared McKinney to onetime Heartless Bastards guitarist Mike Weinel to Dan Allaire, a Cincinnati native and drummer for the California band Brian Jonestown Massacre. “The people who played on this record are as good as or better than anyone I’ve come across traveling around,” Olive says. “If I had the means to fly people in I actually can’t think of anyone I would have rather had.”
With its pop hooks, odd harmonies (ever hear a baritone sax harmonize with a psaltery?), and a galaxy of reverb, Brian Olive is the feel-good album of the summer—only it’s hard to say if we’re talking about ’09 or ’67 or a summer to come. “I was always trying to figure out what the style was that I wanted to do. In the meantime people were letting me know that they needed me around to make the band go, whichever band it was,” he says. – Chris Varias / Cincinnati Magazine
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Ex Soledad Brother and Greenhornes guitarist Brian Olive’s solo debut is a rich, Stax-influenced late 60’s/early 70’s era rock record. Olive fuses an interesting array of music ranging from jazz elements, British psychedelic, Memphis soul-pop and Chicago style blues. – Record Dpt.
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This talented musician has served time in the Greenhornes and the Soledad Brothers, two underrated garage rock bands from Cincinnati, Ohio. Brian Olive’s self-titled solo album is a pretty impressive self-produced affair that takes the trashy, rollicking, Brit invasion revivalist sound of his former groups and then injects a healthy dose of bluesy soul backbeats and N’awlins horns to the mix. There’s also a nice haze of gentle acid-washed psychedelia to his production that reminds me of some fellow ’60s revivalists across the pond, the (Band of) Bees. Tracks like "Echoing Light," "See Me Mariona" and "There Is Love" are great stoner, psych-pop nuggets while "Calling All Around" and "Ida Red" are letter perfect Beggars Banquet-styled blues rock, reminiscent of Olive’s former bands. But it’s songs like "Stealin" and "Jubilee Line" that seal the deal, impressive rollicking jaunts that benefit from his impressive horn arrangements and a propulsive foot stomping backbeat. A great, solid listen from start to finish, if you’ve been diggin’ on the sounds of King Khan, Brian Jonestown Massacre or the aforementioned Bees, you’ll definitely want to spend some time with this record. Tip!! – Duane Harriott / Other Music
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Brian Olive (as Oliver Henry) explored British Invasion and American garage rock as a member of the Cincinnati-based Greenhornes and Detroit-based Soledad Brothers, playing sax, flute, guitar, piano and organ, as well as singing and writing songs. On his solo debut he expands beyond the gritty hard-rock and reworked blues of Blind Faith and mid-period Stones to include healthy doses of psych, glam, and most surprisingly, soul and exotica. Influences of the New York Dolls, T. Rex and Meddle-era Pink Floyd are easy to spot, but they’re mixed with touches of Stax-style punch, South American rhythms, breezy jet-set vocals and jazz saxophones. It’s intoxicating to hear droning saxophones transform from big band to glammy psychedelia on “High Low,” and the acoustic guitar and drowsy vocals of “Echoing Light” bring to mind the continental air of Pink Floyd’s “St. Tropez.” – Hyperbolium
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The album has some garage rock and blues elements, but also mixes in a good bit of Britrock and 60s era psychedelia. – Pasta Primavera
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Henry Oliver. Oliver Henry. Brian Olive. Who are these people? Well, it is one person that has used all of these names at one point or another in his musical career. For his upcoming CD release, he’ll be Brian Olive, and he is best known for being a founding member of the Greenhornes and a former member of the Soledad Brothers. His self-titled debut was recorded in Cincinnati in the basement of a former pawn shop. The bluesy-soul release was produced, recorded and mixed by Olive alone and features some notable locals such as Jared McKinney and Craig Fox of the Greenhornes and Mike Weinel, formerly of the Heartless Bastards. – Cincinnati Metromix
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Planet Gong review (France) | Dreun.be (Netherlands) | PunkRockTheory (Netherlands) |
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