Elevator Music for Hippies

Steve Kimock Band
Eudemonic
© 2005, SCI Fidelity Records

On Eudemonic, the first, formal studio effort from the current incarnation of the Steve Kimock Band, there are no surprises. Literally, every song is just about exactly what you’d expect from Steve Kimock. Smooth, guitar-driven rock with elements of jazz, funk, and world with one very smooth drummer providing a backbeat that goes about as deep as it needs to do—it really is good stuff. Steve Kimock and Rodney Holmes produced, wrote, and recorded the album with some help from Mitch Stein, Alfonso Johnson, and Jim Kost. All in all, I think it’s a great album to get acquainted with the Steve Kimock Band and I would easily recommend this as a first listen for anyone curious as to their sound. I do have some gripes, though.

While I enjoy Eudemonic for the musicianship, I just don’t think this effort really holds up. The songs are stretched passed the point of no return in a couple instances, and I would have been more pleased to hear less jamming on the album. Please, please, please save your jamming for your live shows. I think I’ve heard plenty of albums that just really try and recreate a band’s live sound, and those albums hardly ever standup UNLESS IT IS A LIVE ALBUM. Also, I would have liked a little more bass in the mix. The focus is on Kimock and Holmes, while some of this is easily expected yet disappointing nonetheless. The songs are great; they just need to be slimmed down and focused on. I guess that could really be the takeaway from this mini-review—the album, while good for a first effort, is hardly concise. The songs are driving at times, slower at others, and everything else in between. For that and that alone, this album should be commended and respected. Next time, though, they might want to bring in a producer to get the meandering under control.

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