Bill Quateman (Remastered)

Album review

Singer/songwriter Bill Quateman's 1972 debut is adored by a small cult of '70s pop fans. While it's a good record, Bill Quateman rarely advances beyond "good" into "excellent," which makes it primarily of interest to '70s completists and fans of artists like Harry Nilsson, Steve Forbert, Eric Carmen, and Elton John (most of John's band appears on this album), all of whom Quateman resembles at various points. Quateman is a solid singer with an unusually expressive (without slipping into histrionics) voice, and a fairly good lyricist with a knack for substantial choruses but an unfortunate tendency to overstuff his verses. The album's one real drawback is the typically '70s glossy production, where every instrument (and there are too many of them) is in its own neat little box. While this kind of production always worked for the likes of Billy Joel and Fleetwood Mac, it's hard to hear this album without imagining what the songs must have sounded like on the demos, with a small four-piece band behind Quateman's appealing vocals. Still, even with the overstuffed and sterile production, the obvious charms of songs like "Only the Bears Are the Same," and the heartfelt piano ballad "Too Many Mornings" show through.
© Stewart Mason /TiVo