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Massachusetts natives, Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers release a New album The Bear produced by Tom Schick (Norah Jones, Ryan Adams, Rufus Wainright) and Sam Kassirer(Josh Ritter, Erin McKeown). The Bear finds the band unveiling their rawest and most definitive album to date.
Thirty-two-year-old folk-rock singer/songwriter Stephen Kellogg, along with his backup band the Sixers (who consisted of Keith Karlson and Brian "Boots" Factor upon the release of this album), has had his ups and downs, beginning with self-released efforts, working his way up to a major label and being dropped, and now fetching up with a well-established independent, Vanguard Records, for The Bear. No doubt part of the reason he keeps getting shots at the big time is that his music has such a surface appeal. It's melodic pop/rock, usually featuring an acoustic guitar supported by an electric bass and drums, with other midrange instruments -- keyboards here, banjo there -- filling in the sound, all in the support of Kellogg's smooth tenor singing catchy choruses to story songs, at least some of which sound like they must be autobiographical. In particular, it would be surprising to hear that "Satisfied Man," on which Kellogg is only accompanied by that acoustic guitar, was fictional, since it is the first-person account of a happily married family man trying to explain to his wife and family (and to himself) why, if he's so satisfied, he also needs to hit the road regularly and be away from them so much. One reason, of course, is that he's a traveling musician. Another is that, appealing as his music is, he probably needs to gather fans primarily through his performances, not just because radio doesn't play this kind of music to the masses anymore, but also because it isn't distinctive enough on its own to gather many fans who don't have the personal connection of having seen Kellogg perform it in person. Simply heard on record, the music is nice enough, but the lyrics are simple-minded and full of clichés, for the most part, and since they are emphasized over the music, which exists largely to accompany them in a pleasant manner, the effect is a sort of generic folk-rock.
TRACK LISTINGS
1 The Bear 2:11
2 A (With Love) 3:40
3 Shady Esperanto & The Young Hearts 3:02
4 See Yourself 3:43
5 Oh Adeline 5:13
6 Dying Wish of a Teenager 4:32
7 All Part of the Show 3:30
8 Satisfied Man 3:48
9 My Old Man 2:30
10 Do 3:54
11 Lonely in Columbus 4:49
12 Mabeline 6:51
13 Born in the Spring 4:38
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