Craig Bennett
BC20-02 More City Sadness CDLP
Reviews
"In a very unique and refreshing indie release, Craig Bennett serves up an off-kilter, trebly, acoustic sound with a vocal style that places emphasis on odd words. The album is a mix of late '60s faux-English pop, occasional spacey sections or funky Tim Buckley bits, Steve Taylor-ish vocals and lyrics, Porno for Pyros-like vocals and guitars, weird effects with keyboard, even a seconds-long psychedelic or classic rock guitar solo from time to time. Fans of Belle & Sebastian style indie pop should dig this. He has some clever, odd lyrics … Indie releases are almost always a disappointment, so it's a rare treat to find one so musically mature and satisfyingly original." -Josh Spencer, Stranger Things Magazine
"I'm sitting here completely mesmerized by the music of Craig Bennett. His voice, his guitar...wait; there is a chick in there! It's Diana Hoskins. She's the drummer and she rocks! The band has a great sound, a beatnik trance-like vibe. It's alterna/pop at its best. Could easily go mainstream. You can hear Craig's Bowie/Floyd influence in there...especially in the track "Montgomery Clift." I'll be listening to this CD a lot!"-Madalyn Sklar, Go Girls Music
"Bennett's blend of coffeehouse psychedelia and British pop shines even on the darkest of days, and poems-turned-lyrics throw a left curve on songs like "Blue Streak," "Beautiful Face" and "Montgomery Clift." Orchestral strings add a larger-than-life sound to the mix, making More City Sadness something worth anyone's attention." - Omar Perez, Altar Native (Miami, FL)
" 'More City Sadness' is the product of the modern version of Simon & Garfunkel rolled into one person with a nip of Brit pop thrown in for flavor. "More City Sadness" is a great album."Muscene.com (Chicago, IL)
"Craig Bennett's songs make you want to hole up in a dimly lit room by yourself, just you and your cigarettes, and cry slow silent tears. Not because his songs are sad, but because they're so effortlessly beautiful, so lush and compelling, so immaculately conceived and written and sung … you know that he has written songs that you would write if you could only find the words." Lycos Music
"…It is always a pleasant surprise to find something instantly likeable. The music reminds me of a stripped down and less whiny Suede mixed with a slower tempo Stone Roses. I know that Mr. Bennett knows of the Stone Roses, as he makes references to Stone Roses singer, Ian Brown, in the title track- 'I spent four years sporting an Ian Brown haircut, just to win you over. Man, I couldn't do enough.' So cheeky! The big surprise in the end is that Bennett grew up in Macon, Georgia in the US and is now based in the city of Atlanta. Those more inclined to the British music scene should definitely check this album out." Cindy Wong, Editor, Pop Culture Detox. San Francisco, CA.
"Moderately tempoed pop-n-roll with an intelligence and sophistication revealing a high level of craftsmanship ...there's a sense of the early 1980s British New Wave (e.g. The Smiths, The Cure, XTC), or any of the 1970s prog/glam rockers (esp. David Bowie), or mid-1960s Beatles (Revolver, Sgt. Pepper) a spacey-ness swirling around light airy melodies and weird backward looping "Penny Lane" orchestration - with the haunting sensitivity permeating Bennett's lyrical and vocal stylings thru-out. There's a sadness and melancholy -- an unfulfillment -- woven into the fabric of the lyrics, betraying an individual who has wandered to close to the unpleasant, the uncertain, and perhaps the unfair. Richly textured and truly exquisite!" Riff Gibson, Raging Smolder Publications
Single
BC20-01 Coffee Poet Cracked CD Single
The Coffee Poet Cracked
Chemical Smile (Demo)
Bad Times Know No Bounds (Demo)
All My Friends Are Broken (Demo)
"The Coffee Poet Cracked"- The first single taken from "More City Sadness." Non-LP tracks: "Bad Times Know No Bounds," "Chemical Smile," and "All My Friends Are Broken." All songs written and produced by Craig Bennett. Recorded at Black Cottage January-June 1999
Notes: I wrote a lot of these songs while my band Cork was on hiatus. Since I felt none of them had that Cork "sound," I didn't want to force them onto the band- especially since I felt we had enough strong material for Cork to enter the studio for an album of their own. I placed more emphasis on the lyrics on this record than I had in past Cork recordings. I took more of a narrative approach and wrote most of these tunes with an acoustic guitar. Most of these songs were written during my travels to San Francisco and New York City in 1997. It's not hard to find inspiration in these two cities. The songs began to take shape in the spring and summer of 1998. They were finalized during a brief stay on the Georgia coast. I played a few solo shows in the fall to get a live feel and some feedback from an audience. I began demo recording late in the year, and then began final recordings at the start of 1999. The first step I took toward creating this record was to surround myself with excellent musicians. I didn't need to look far. My band mates from Cork seemed the obvious choice. Drummer/percussionist Diana Hoskins and bassist Daniel Dinardo stepped right in as my rhythm section. None of this could have happened without my good mate Diana. She believed in the material enough to commit a large amount of time and effort. I added Blake Street on horns, Chester Belows, Melhoyt Snow, and Balzac on Strings. I played all the guitars and made a few attempts at keyboard as well. I looked for a producer but before I could settle on anyone, I had produced most of the record myself. - Craig Bennett 7/99
More City Sadness CREDITS: All songs written and produced by Craig Bennett. Mastered by Glenn Schick at Glenn Schick Mastering, Atlanta, Georgia. All songs published by Black Cottage Publishing, BMI. Band: Craig Bennett- Vocals, Guitar, Keyboard. Diana Hoskins - Drums/Percussion. Daniel Dinardo- Bass Guitar. Chester Bellows- Cello. Melhoyt Snow- Viola. Balzac- Violin. Blake Street- All Horns. Sleeve design by Stephen Tisdale. Recorded January - June 1999. Released August 1999.
