By Martin Popoff
Carl's vocals rule on this album, and musically, he's found a synthesis of styles to bring his consummate pipes to the fore, more of a roots rock sound in total than anything too heavy.
"If there's a 'Carl Dixon sound', it's a result of my feeling that I'm a singer foremost," replies Dixon when asked to define his style. "And the vehicle I strive to create for my singing has been made from the meeting point of melodicism, intelligence, and tough, energy-filled rock in its various guises. My production philosophy is fairly retro, I guess; keep things interesting until the final fade-out, play well and in time, sing with feel and in tune, and capture the special moments; then you'll have something worth offering to people. You have to respect the unique magic that each musician can give you if you give them space; why get someone in and then tell them exactly what to do? The ideas of other players gives the music a depth that one person alone can never achieve. Oh yeah, and no Auto-Tune allowed!"
'Hot Streak' and 'Busted' were written as far back as 1989, the latter with old Coney Hatch bandmate Andy Curran. And there are some well-chosen covers on the album as well. "There are three cover tunes, 'Lonely You' by Badfinger, 'Little Bit of Love' by Free and 'River' by Robin Trower. The Badfinger and Trower tunes are just songs that hit me a certain way years ago and I've always had it in mind to record them. The Free song is a result of an idea I had when I recorded Free's 'Get Where I Belong' for the One album, that I should always do one of their songs when I make an album. The sound and the feeling in their music has always moved me; it has a kind of soaring melancholy that I still feel deeply when I hear it. I made some arrangement changes in the songs but they're pretty faithful to the originals."
CARL DIXON - A Classic Canuck Voice Page 3