CANDYE KANE "SUPERHERO" Source: Ultimate Guitar Date: 07/2009 Writer: UG Team

Candye Kane: Superhero

Superhero is an album that stimulates the fun hormones, and that alone makes it ripe for any decade.

Sound:   Candye Kane take ‘50s rock into the new millennium without any hang-ups about sounding ancient or like an oldies band. Their music is pistoled by boogie-encrusted hops liken to Chuck Berry flanked by bebop grooves resembling The Ronettes, and bordered in prairieland-infused blues reminiscent of Dwight Yoakum. The trio’s latest release Superhero gives vintage rock a refreshment course in arousing the urge for fun, buoyed by lead vocalist/guitarist Laura Chavez who fires up that furnace in the group’s remake of Led Zeppelin’s “You Need Love” as bassist Paul Loranger and drummer Evan Caleb plug the track in a smoky blues rock socket. The group’s remake of Zepp’s classic tune has a more gritty texture than the original, with an attractive country-blues intonation that awakens the gentleness in the track’s melodic flow. The group has their moments of pouring on the smooth jazz sauces in numbers like “Who’s Been Sleeping In My Bed” and “Don’t Cry For Me New Jersey,” complimented by the easy going spiritual of “I’m Gonna Be Just Fine” sung in a lush gospel-hued register through the verses.

The boogie rock jumps of “Hey! Toughen Up!” and “I didn’t Listen To my Heart” are cued in a series of bubbly propulsions that recall of Chuck Berry’s energetic hops, and the soft bluesy-ambient twang in the guitar cuts bottling “I Put A Hex On You” have a rich western swing flange. The track displays Chavez’s versatility as a singer, demonstrating the vocal brawn of Janis Joplin and the luminous shine of Nina Simone. The group presses several slices of Americana into the tracks embossed in jazz-toned piano keys like in “Ik Hou Von Je” equipped with a nursery rhyme schematics and scat shuffling, and the bebop harmonies of “I Like Em Stacked Like That” illuminate the cooling effect Chavez’s vocals have on the listener’s senses. The dashing horns of the title track jackknife the boogie rock pivots in the rhythmic grooves, producing a party-pop vibe, while the bluesy rock crests that drift along “You Can’t Stop Me From Lovin’ You” inject calming ripples working into a relaxing stride.

Lyrics and Singing:   Candye Kane’s lyrics gravitate to taking a negative situation and making it positive like in “I Put A Hex On You” as Chavez enforces, “I put a hex on you / You better watch your back… Your luck is changing / You don’t know what to do / You know you had it coming / I put a hex on you.” Some verses reflect on defeat while trying to keep one’s chin up like in “Don’t Cry For Me New Jersey” as Chavez implores, “Don’t cry for me New Jersey / No tears down in Paramus / No tears on the Palisades / Gave my all, my everything / Sent my heart wrapped up in string / Love is one bad evil two way street / Seemed it all was built to last / But I know it’s sinking fast / Here is where my hope and sorrow meet.” Another recurring theme in the tracks is expressing an indestructible resilience like in the title track as Chavez purports, “I’m a superhero… I won’t ever need a gun / My big heart is my secret weapon / You can always count on me,” or like in “You Can’t Stop me From Lovin’ You” as Chavez admits, “This love of mine still seems to shine / You can’t stop me from loving you… I gave you my heart and I meant it / I gave you my love and it’s true / I don’t care if you want me, I’m yours / You can’t stop me from loving you.” No matter where the lyrics go, they always mean to rise above the hurt and frustration.

Impression:   Superhero is probably not for everyone, though there are a few tracks that have a wide universal appeal like “I Put A Hex On You” and “You Need Love.” As retro as the music sounds, often going back to the bebop/sock hop grooves of the ‘50s, Candye Kane has a modern pop veneer that transcends sounding dated. Superhero is an album that stimulates the fun hormones, and that alone makes it ripe for any decade.