Neal Casal: Book Of Stories (Home Recordings 1998-2003)(Neal Casal Music Foundation / Blackwing Music / Royal Potato Family) – Album Review

Reviewed by Harry Kaplan

Damn! I was not prepared for how gorgeous this is. Neal had a 100-year voice. It is a tragedy that we only got about thirty years of material and not the full cycle. The tone is in a very pleasing part of the sonic spectrum. But there is more than a little bit of melancholy in that voice. Half of me wants to jump for joy while the other half wants to curl up in a ball and cry. That is the push and pull of music that is both beautiful and incredibly moving.

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