A couple more Carousel reviews!
Carousel just got a couple of nice reviews that I thought I'd share. If you haven't got your copy yet, go here!
Rock N Reel gave the record four stars:
LUKE TUCHSCHERER
****
CAROUSEL
(CLUBHOUSE RECORDS) www.luketuchscherer.co.uk
Luke Tuchscherer, once of Bedford’s magnificent Whybirds, is one British Americana musician who has actually acted on his musical aspirations and relocated to America. This hasn’t done his music any harm at all, as last year’s Pieces, a masterpiece of American rock, surely proves. This album is very different, though. As he writes in the liner notes, ‘Ever since I heard The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, I’d always wanted to make a live solo acoustic record. And to do it while living in New York City, well, that’s even better.’
The album was recorded at a studio in one day. Luke sings his own songs, plays acoustic guitar and harmonica. His voice is nothing like Dylan’s, but Carousel does have the 60s Greenwich Village feel. The style remains a potent medium for communication of powerful, sincere emotion. Luke comes across as the classic male country singer, not a romantic dreamer but a man of deep feeling hewn by worldly experience. Here we have some of his best lyrics: a tender concern for others is evident, notably in ‘Violets’ and ‘My Darling England’. While Tuchscherer appears very happy with his musical career, he really does deserve a much larger audience.
-- Rychard Carrington
And Spanish magazine Ruta 66 also gave the record a nice review, which I've translated here:
I'm a little tired of acoustic records. In fact, a couple of months ago I published on these pages a column dedicated exclusively to works recorded simply on guitar and vocals. I understand the artists who opt for them as a form of minimal, naked expression. An overexposure sometimes necessary to feel fulfilled as a songwriter. But that saturation I experienced made me want to leave them for a while, unless I had some previous incentive to fall back into them. And in this case I had it, because Carousel is made by Luke Tuchscherer (formerly of The Whybirds), a guy with whom I have developed some previous knowledge and who has a more than interesting career behind him. These two elements have overcome my misgivings and have taken me to a set of 12 stark songs, which contrast with the strong rock sound of his previous album. Songs that, by the way, are less country than some will expect, simply finding themselves on that broad label that is rock music. Good lyrics and remarkable melodies — especially in "Violets" or "The Other Side" — keep this guy writing in a celebrated way. And by the way, thanks for a song as beautiful as "The Night Tom Petty Died"
-- Eduardo Izquierdo
