CD Review – Rusty Anderson (formerly of Ednaswap and Paul McCart
Born on Earth
Oxide Records
Rusty Anderson knows how play and he knows how to make a hit. He’s been a member of Paul McCartney’s band since 2001. He was a founding member of the 90’s alternative group Ednaswap. He wrote the song “Torn” for Ednaswap and shortly thereafter it became a global hit when Natalie Imbruglia covered it. He also has played with countless artists as a studio musician for (among others) Jewel, The Wallflowers, Santana, Cat Stevens, Neil Diamond and Ricky Martin. In fact, the lead guitar chords to Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca;” that’s Anderson. So his second solo album “better be killer,” I thought. It is.
The title track is a perfect radio hit while “Baggage Claim” has lead single written all over it. The only downfall with Anderson is his voice. He doesn’t have the commanding voice that a lot of his songs need to take them from good or really good to great. I found myself thinking about how songs like “Julie Roberts” and “Under a White Star” would be stellar if someone else (preferably someone like Regina Spektor or even Corinne Bailey Rae for the first, Hailey Williams on the latter) sang. The songs themselves are really well done and although Anderson has already firmly established himself as a go-to studio musician, he proves that he can write his own songs with the best.
