Music Review: Band of the Week - Crosby Loggins
Published June 29, 2008
If your father was a Grammy-winning musician who had numerous top ten hits, there would undoubtedly be a lot of pressure to produce similar results – if you chose to follow the same career path. Let's face it, so few of those who follow in their famous parents footsteps achieve legitimate success in their own right. I can give you a fairly lengthy list of those who never really achieved that elusive success, which would start with Kelly Osbourne's rather laughable attempt at pop success and end with the tragic tale of Julian Lennon – a truly talented man who had the great misfortune to both look and sound like his legendary father John (let's be kind and not mention Lisa-Marie Presley). A few have had success, Dweezil Zappa, Jakob Dylan, and Ziggy Marley among them. Why is success for the children of famous parents so elusive? The answer is fairly simple. Who takes a famous musician's child seriously at first glance?
However with music in your soul, in your blood, you have little choice but to follow in your family footsteps- not unlike a family of doctors, stockbrokers or police. Crosby Loggins – son of Kenny – faces this uphill battle, but luckily he is armed with considerable talent and vision all his own. And growing up around multi-talented artists like Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, and Glen Phillips has no doubt inspired him to create his own music.
Recently Crosby released his début album, We All Go Home, featuring the talents of fellow musicians and friends – many the sons of rock stars themselves – and sporting the name Crosby Loggins and the Light, together they created an album that is a testament to true talent. Filled with addictive melodies, harmonies, and ardent lyrics We All Go Home is a mix-up of musical genres, with flavours of jazz, funk, folk, rock and pop, catchy riffs, engaging melodies and earnest lyrics. Crosby is a warm, soulful singer-songwriter and this album reflects that. His vocals are smooth, honeyed and nearly flawless and his songwriting is perfectly tuned to his vocal style, powerfully emotive, passionate, with hints of nostalgia.
We All Go Home begins with “Good Enough”, a smooth pop-filtered song with the mixture of sounds and instruments that defines Crosby Loggins and the Light. When you have a group of musical prodigies gathered you take advantage of that, and Crosby did indeed use all the considerable skills of his percussionist/drummer, guitarist, and violinist.
On “Always Catching Up”, the second track, the mixture of electric and acoustic guitar and violin with piano creates a richly textured sound. The lyrics, co-written with sister Bella Loggins, are filled with powerful images of running out of time while searching for something, what that is we are never really told. This is a common theme throughout We All Go Home.
“Rock Into Sand” has a much more upbeat, piano-jazz feel to it, with an indie rock twist. More awe inspiring instrumentation, although as with the rest of the album, none ever takes over. There are no egos in Crosby Loggins and the Light. One of my favourite tracks, “Man in the Middle” is a more low-key, cool track heavily influenced by violin, mandolin and piano. However it still maintains a pop-rock feel. Lyrically, it's the tale of a man bailing out a girl, although unlike his father Crosby never tells a direct story, but rather implies it (very effectively too.)
I'm a writer and music journalist originally from Salt Lake City, but now living in Scotland. I was a Punk/Goth in the '80s and these artistic influences have stayed with me; although a love of Chopin, chamber music, and Spanish guitar would seem to belie this. I am the managing editor for AllThingsGirl.com, assistant music editor at Blogcritics.org, staff writer for a gay men's magazine based in Edinburgh, and a freelance writer.
- Music Review: Band of the Week - Crosby Loggins
- Published: June 29, 2008
- Type: Review
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Acoustic, Music: Adult Alternative, Music: Folk, Music: Funk, Music: Indie Rock, Music: Jazz, Music: Pop, Review
- Part of a feature: Band of the Week
- Writer: A.L. Harper
- A.L. Harper's BC Writer page
- A.L. Harper's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
Excuse me but I was taken aback to read your (pardon my French) STUPID comment about Julian Lennon.
As you may have vaguely insinuated, he is today a quite admirably thriving artist across many spectrums - including music. (Check out his myspace page!)
There seems to be something about artists and their artistic children that somehow gets under the skin of some people. Jealousy is all I can figure.
Personally, I feel that whatever artistic links there are between Julian and his father they are there for the exact same reason that French children speak French.
Get over it! We should be so lucky to have kids who WANT TO follow us all in something someday!
Julian Lennon....tragic?????
Sorry I don't have a comment on Crosby Loggins,I bet he's great like his DAD,altho you could check out myspace and maybe learn a few things. I don't think Julian is quite thru yet.
I certainly never meant to cause offence. And my comment has obviously been completely misunderstood. What I meant was, it is tragic that Julian Lennon could never achieve the fame he so rightly deserved, because the general public could never forgive him for looking and sounding so like his father, but not being John. That was all I meant.
I'm sure that Lennon has achieved some measure of success in his niche market, but let's face facts, it isn't mainstream or even well recognised success.
And I completely agree with your statement:
"There seems to be something about artists and their artistic children that somehow gets under the skin of some people."
That's just the point that the article is trying to make dear. That people don't easily accept the children of famous artists and that is monumentally unfair. Only in that way is Julian Lennon is tragic, as are all such worthy artists.
It seems you are more than a little bitter Diaa.
Why are Julian Lennon fans getting upset?
A.L. said that he has not achieved major mainstream success despite being "a truly talented man" and attributes that to being the son of a famous father. Seems a reasonable hypothesis to me.
Hard though it may be for fans to accept but Julian Lennon is not a major star. Most people (myself included) would struggle to name even one of his songs.
Totally misunderstood comment by some - Julian Lennon should've been a major star, but he truly isn't, likely because of his similarities with his father.
I know it's already be reworded three or ofour times here but let's make sure these people get it right - nobody (so far) here is badmouthing Julian Lennon. Photograph is a wonderful album that a lot of people missed.
I agree with you on but one important point! Julian Lennon is a very talented individual in his own right! I personally love his music, and think he looks a lot like his mother Cynthia! Yes he does resemble some of his fathers traits, but he is very much like his mother! And If your wondering why I have put so much effort into placing this comment, it's because I am one of Julian's MySpace friends, and you should check out his page! It's great! It's fun! Full of great music and comments! Love Linda x
"I agree with you on but one important point! Julian Lennon is a very talented individual in his own right!"
In what way did I imply that he wasn't a talented man. In fact that is EXACTLY what I wrote: "Julian Lennon - a truly talented man..."
And as I have never seen his mother, I can only see the remarkable resemblance to his father.
Somewhere "hidden" among that totally-blown-out-of-proportion sentence about Julian Lennon is a nicely-done review of Crosby Loggins. I was pleasantly surprised by Jordan Zevon's own maiden flight earlier this year and from I gather here, Crosby is a musical force in his own right as well.
I'm definitely going to check this out.
Julian Lennon was neglected by John and of course would have issues. I can imagine with those issues he would on top of it have these constant reminders; his looks (better looking than his father) and voice (another wonderful voice). I say, let it go. Life is too short to drag the nasty past around!!! Julian is gorgeous and talented and that is that!! Life is to short (as it is said) live in the NOW. Much love...
I don't think the public had the chance to get to know Julian Lennon as an artist. Seems the industry pulled him. The politics of rock and roll. It doesn't happen with actors. The pain of being Julian is that of being an artist that can't share his art with a wider audience. There's nothing worse, and it's not for lack of talent.
Hi A Harper
Your article with it's judging insinuations has been done before and you churn again... "few achieve legitimate success"? "tragic tale"? "great misfortune"?
Julian is his own person with his own measure of success. Look at Photograph Smile. There's legitimate success. I agree that maybe it is people's association with John, as he was such a strong character,
that has affected their ability to hear Julian's album as a work "in his own write".
It's a shame you use words like "great misfortune"?! It is a gift of genetics he naturally has. Most would give their right-arm to sound and look like John Lennon. You know, Julian was brought up in Liverpool. He has the accent, and a wonderful voice, without trying, as his father had.
Julian is working to save the planet, and continuing to record, and perform. Success? Absolutely.
Sorry to hear you are described as "lost" in Scotland. Maybe that explains why you seem to have lost the art of journalism.
Maybe you should send your article to those you mention in it and ask for an interview.
Peace out.
For all their 'peace out' sentiments Julian Lennon's fans sure seem to be an intolerant bunch. Why else pick up on (and bizarrely misunderstand) a single sentence in an review otherwise unrelated to him? It seems they, like Julian, have a chip on their shoulder.
As Diaa, Jody West and Linda Attwater-Sheen all begged us to visit Julian's MySpace page I did so.
It is amazing!
Never before have I encountered such a stomach-turning display of fawning sycophancy.
So congratulations, there is now yet another thing Julian has in common with his Dad - I don't like either of them.
PS As if helping to fund Rupert Murdoch's empire by using MySpace wasn't bad enough!
PPS Sorry to hear Julian is afflicted with a Scouse accent. With your blindly-devoted support I'm sure he can overcome this.
PPPS Pass out.
My goodness!
Julian's hardly dead yet.
Tho your comment (misunderstood?) did tick me off, I didn't mean to start such a battle.
Guess that's the nature of the internet.
As they say, 'if you can't take it, don't dish it'
Please try to refrain from adding - 'ed' - past tense - to your verbs when speaking about working artists.
Life looks forward with joy, not backward with resentment.
I just want you to recognize how much power your words have.
Consider that when you choose to write about artists and musicians whose extraordinary talent lies in their profound sensitivity.
Or......you may choose to blunder thru like a bull in a china shop, if you prefer.
Take care
Just want to add to everyone elses comments about Julian Lennon. I agree with some of what you said about him being a very talented man and that basically it shouldn't matter if the children of famous people want to go into music or not, just like families of doctors, lawyers, etc.
But...I am a little saddened by the fact that you say that Julian Lennon's story was a tragic tale. Are you kidding me?!?! He left the music business himself after fighting to get out of his contract with Atlantic. He wanted out and lost all interest in music for years because of everyone comparing him constantly to his dad and not giving him the respect he really deserves. That's very sad that it came to that because as you said, music is in his blood and that's what he loves to do.
But thankfully, that love for music prevailed and he returned to it. :) I recommend to you his 5th album, which he released himself under his own label called Music from Another Room in 1998/1999 called "Photograph Smile". Awesome album, a real hidden gem. People should really check it out. It's good solid album from start to finish.
He's also got a new album in the works, which will be released sometime this year in 2008. He was just awarded the Better World Award on May 23, 2008, by Prince Albert II of Monoco for his continued work in trying to help save the environment. He was at Cannes last year in 2007 to promote a film he co-produced called "Whale Dreamers", which is an eco-documenatary that has won many awards.
Does this sound like someone who is all washed up? Not to me. He's still very active. :)
Poor Crosby, upstaged by a few unfortunate words.
Yes, in the interest of peace, let's have another look at him.
We know at least one person really, really likes him.
Sounds like a good beginning to me.
On the subject of Crosby Loggins, very nice article. Crosby is a very talented and gifted musician. It's great he finally is getting the recognition he so deserves. Being Kenny's son is icing on the cake but, Crosby is very much his own person and brings his own brand of talent. Watch him, the skies the limit. He's very much on his way to the top. Best to him.
I can't beleive so many people are jumping on one line of the article. The author didn't say anything bad about Julian Lennon.
They are making the point that his music career was affected by who he was. For him it didn't matter how good his music might have been, he would always be compared to his father. He does look and sound like John, and that adversely affected his career, whether Julian fans want to admit it or not.
He could never acheive the commercial success he had the potential for because of it.
That doesn't mean he hasn't been successful, or that he is unhappy with his career. The "misfortune" in this article only applied to his professional career as a musician. The author wasn't trying to imply that it's a misfortune to look like John Lennon.
Thank you Sherry, for understanding the true meaning and spirit of that one short sentence.
Now let's all give Crosby a listen.
Finally - understanding the true meaning of the article, Crosby Loggins - I'm with you A.L. Harper - Let's give Crosby a listen - you won't be dissapointed.
It's just come to me. Maybe Julian's CHANNELING his Dad.
I listened to Crosby Loggins like some suggested.
CROSBY LOGGINS ROCKS!!
Thanks...
Not only is there a Loggins offspring on Crosby's album... but a Supertramp offspring as well! Pretty awesome pedigree. Fantastic album.
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/78543)
Dear Ms. Harper,
I don't know how you can think that looking and sounding like John Lennon is a misfortune. Writing lyrics that touch the souls of many and making them forget their troubles for a time is a god given talent something more important to touch upon.
Sincerely,
Sheryl Robinson