Still Time - Stream of Consciousness (2007)

Musical adventurous Still Time offers up 14-tracks on "Stream of Consciousness" that land squarely in the arena of Steely Dan, Dave Mathews, Smash Mouth, with a only a taste of reggae pop as the mostly jazz based singer/songwriter band project satisfies with each track.

The record opens with "Chuck Johnson Spur", an instrumental taste of what's to come. Bass, bare and grooving, makes way for perfect drums while waka waka guitar enters left, double-stop melody enters center/right, and keys fill up the Barney Miller mood - and without a breath or stop of the toe-tappin', enters track 2, "9 to 5" - where lyrically the band looks forward to 'when it's time to be working on a 12-pack instead of 9 to 5".

Track 4, "Memory Lane", is an upbeat happy ensemble with nearly unison melodic guitar line that rides along side the vocal. Dan Curcio on vocals sings, 'too many trips down memory lane, i'm not sure what's keeping me sane, the hours racing, our minds are escaping, and time is erasing, all i wanted to find'. The band takes a lighter acoustic groove in track 6, "Fall and Rise" and spend some time floating around the blues soul land that was first established en masse by Van Morrison.

The acoustic innocence hits a crescendo in track 8's gem, "Know Your Roots" - a singer/songwriter piece. The dedicated tune to family and lineage as the singer is told by his mother, 'know your roots, you don't need a million bucks to have an ocean view, i've been here long enough to see you're going to need me soon, i'll be here when you want to come back home'.

The beat starts picking up again, albeit slowly and with a roots based folk tune in the title track, "Stream of Consciousness". The harmony decision in these lighter tunes are perfect and are a throw-back to 70's Mitchell and CSN.

The final track on the record, "The Fabulous Life", sticks with the acoustic-burned format for the first part of the blues/based folk tune. The acoustic gutiar work is really gorgeous, and makes way for the full band as they leave us with a more AC lyrical piece with edge that opens into a anthem-like rock jam to its end. it takes a cynical view of 'being stuck inside this prison, it's a generation thing (caused, in part, by MTV), stuck inside this prison until you can find your way'.

There is a lot here for a great many listeners. Overall, however, the musicianship and delivery is convincing and memorable with tastes of jazz, rock, and folk - baring down with the breezy folk rock vibe for the last bulk of compelling music. We look forward to more.