Eric Hansen
Nuevo Flamenco Romancero
Neurodisc / Capitol
I was always curious as to what a leech sounded like. Well, now I know. Eric Hansen and his neo-flamenco guitar stylings has not only managed to suck the blood out of that vibrant instrument and genre to the point that Bela Lugosi’s blushing in his grave but has also managed to drain the life out of some very cool songs. His milquetoast, synthesized music wanders aimlessly the nether regions between New Age and “Smooth Jazz Flavors” and has you cheering for the vultures to start plucking away at the corpse of his artistry.
I admit this isn’t my type of music, but why does he have to despoil the stuff that is? I knew I was in trouble when he Texas chainsawed Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly.” I wanted to throw him into an iron maiden and slam the door shut. But then, I just started feeling bad for him, for the music, for the general state of the universe, when he was outdone by the sock puppet for Pets.com on Chicago’s “If You Leave Me Now” and he made Christopher Cross sound gangsta-hard on his version of “Sailing.”
The horror. The horror.
Neurodisc: http://www.neurodisc.com
