May, 2004

REVIEWS                                                                 

By Mike Greenhaus

Ivan Neville, Scrape  (Compendia)

 “Sure, Ivan Neville may have cut his keyboard chops on gritty New Orleans funk, but it was in a polished L.A. studio that Scrape really took shape. Packaging bits of funk, soul and West Coast glitz into a neat New Orleans souvenir, Scrape is built around Neville’s sweet singing; it’s a studio effort written by Neville and producer Gary Gold. Stacked with guest stars like Keith Richards, Daryll Jones and an assortment of Neville kin, Scrape is never short on musicianship, though some of this set’s songs are a bit skimpy on length. Yet, the dark self-confessions of ‘Ghetto Street’ and ‘Ode to 5 A.M.,’ as well as the funk-flashback of ‘Dance For Free,’ are exciting urban narratives. In fact, the more listeners scrape away at his lyrics, the more Neville’s production polish fits perfectly.”

#  #  #  #