Reid Paley

Revival (Emusic)
by Jon Sarre

This guy’s a one-trick Tom Waits throwin’ up leering gin-joint hard drinkin’ thru hard luck trashcan epics delivered in a Hollywood dumb heavy voice (like the stereotypical “duhhh boss, whadda we do now, duhhh,” in fact “Lucky’s Tune” could be that character’s autobiography). That’s not sayin’ this ain’t an enjoyable cheap holiday in Bukouski’s misery, ‘specially comin’ from some cut-rate Vincent Gallo lookalike with Lenny Bruce-quality bags under his eyes, mebbe a sure sign his throaty alcoholic escapades ain’t the invention of a collegiate decadent literature wanna be geeked on voyeuring winos or somethin’. I’m not swallowing the shit the lit crits seem to lather in re how “desperate” or “authentic” Reid Paley‘s supposed to be, cuz a) the biz has been chock fulla frauds goin’ back before the minstrel show and, b) in reality, he sounds just like a percadan-addled mobster in a kareoke bar, a mobster with good taste in material in a kareoke bar with quality arrangements, but a mobster in a kareoke bar nonetheless.
(www.emusic.com)