Where the Gringos Don’t Go - Roger Creager
Song = 5. This is a very solid song that has the perfect combination of lyrics, melody, rhythm, and feel for the theme presented. The way the melody eases you into the groove with the low passages in the verses makes the choruses stand up and shout out loud a little more and creates a conflicting dynamic between them. The lyrics are phrased brilliantly but do fall short of being truly innovative except for the “let’s drop off the grid...” line--that is a cool phrase and the melody paired with the pre-chorus is a perfect combination of transition and harmonic excitement in preparation for where the chorus takes you. Ultimately, this song is very entertaining, interesting, and has a sultry theme that is always welcome to anyone’s ears.
Performance = 5. The lead vocals are an excellent display of dynamics, range, feeling, style, control, and a baritone timbre that massages your ears into total relaxation. The only low point in the performance might be a dull solo section in the middle of the track that showcases the electric guitar on the left sharing a compact section with the accordion in which neither accomplishes much. The overall performance was simple, yet interesting.
Production = 4. Going back to the solo section from a producer’s viewpoint, it definitely needed something more through that solo section--my choice would have been to keep that groove played with the electric guitar on the left and the acoustic guitar on the right but pan the Spanish guitar to the center and let it play, just let it play and then end the solo section with the accordion as is. The break in the middle is a neat little part that changes things up a bit before the finale. As for the mix, the frequency balance is perfect from top to bottom and is easy on your ears. The stereo mix seems to be a little to heavy on the right side until the first chorus when another acoustic guitar shows up on the left and remains there for the rest of the track, but overall the left right balance is adequate. The one aspect of the mix that bothers me is the front to back balance in the depth field--all of the instruments appear to be on the front of the stage except for the drums and the electric guitar. The accordion, electric piano, acoustic guitars, Spanish guitar, and lead vocal are all competing for the same space in the depth field. It works despite this because of a really good job of equalizing each instrument into their own frequency band and panning them away from each other. Overall, this is a good mix of clear, well defined instruments.
Overall = 4.67.












