& I You

Artist: Herb Eimerman
Label: The Orchard
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 803680355121
EAN: 0803680355121
ASIN: B0001Z371S

Release Date: 2004-03-23

& I You

Related Categories:

General

| Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General

| Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock

| Pop | Styles | Music

Tracks:

I Don't Want To Know
For Sure Right Now
All I've Gotta Say
A Whisper Is Enough
Just One Touch
I Hope You Find
Big Dark Secret
The Last Goodbye
If We Want It
If We're Quiet
Look Whoe's Talkin'
I Felt Clean

Album Description

Herb's new cd jangles with Rick 12 string guitars and layered vocals for fans of Bryds, Beatles, Rembrandts.

Customer Reviews:

Herb Eimerman "& I You" Review.......2004-08-25

Amplifier Magazine
Issue 43 July-August 2004

Herb Eimerman
& I You
Jam (jamrecordings.com)

Herb Eimerman offers the kind of precision most musicians don't seem all that concerned with anymore. While many of his contemporaries are more intent on aiming for the gut, this Chicago-based performer appeals to the heart,creating lush, richly-textured melodies that stir up the perfect pop confection. A one-time associate of Shoes (he formed a side project,coyly dubbed the Nerk Twins, with Shoes' Jeff Murphy), Eimerman literally plays every instrument on & I You, his fourth and perhaps best, solo effort to date. A collection of instantly engaging tunes, it boasts a timeless feel consistent with classic pop precepts. While many artists strive to evoke a mid-'60s Brit-rock sensibility, Eimerman effectively recreates the effect entirely; in this case, songs such as "All If Gotta Say", "If We Want It", Look Who's Talkin'" and "I Felt Clean" actually sound as if they could have been plucked intact from the repertoires of, say, the Searchers, the Left Banke or ever Herman's Hermits. His buoyant, effervescent delivery accounts for only part of the reason why; it's his delicate, mannered arrangements and a careful attention to detail that transforms this set into such a sumptuous aural delight.

-Lee Zimmerman

Herb Eimerman, & I You

Posted by Bill Sherman on August 12, 2004 10:48 AM (See all posts by Bill Sherman)
Filed under: Music, Music: Pop

I first became aware of Illinois popper Herb Eimerman through his collaboration with former Shoes-man Jeff Murphy. The duo released an album in the 90's under the name the Nerk Twins (an early Lennon/McCartney pseudonym - for those not hyper-attuned to Beatles Lore) that was lightweight in spots but still provided a good reminder of why so many power pop collectors were fanatical about the Shoes back in their heyday. Off on his own, Eimerman does the Todd Rundgren thing by writing every song, multi-tracking his voice and playing all instruments. & I You (Jam Recordings) is the guy's fourth solo release - and if the results of all this just fall short of purest Shoes divinity, I'm pretty sure you can't blame the songs, many of which are waiting for a more plangent band of power poppers to fly 'em into the stratosphere. (Are Teenage Fanclub still in bizness?)

Eimerman's sonic approach is exemplified on & I You's opening track, "I Don't Want to Know": easy tempo pop-rock with melancholy harmonies, sly high guitar touches, and tentative lyrics ("If you're coming back, that'll be just fine.") There are plenty of lyrical "if"s on this disc (two songs even have it in their title), which suits Eimerman's boyishly contemplative voice. If his forbearers in the Shoes at times may've focused too much on songs about emotional betrayal, Eimerman's protagonists often don't seem sure enough of themselves to recognize when they've been screwed. "I feel crazy almost all the time," he almost snarls in one of the disc's snappiest tracks, but it's the gap caught in that "almost" which keeps the disc so restrained.

"In the shadows I've found," our one man studio band sings in one of the disc's other highpoints, "a whisper is enough." And if anything serves as an overall mission statement, that's it. This is romantic pop-rock at its most ruminative, even if you're not always certain exactly what the songwriter is pondering. ("When the big dark secret rages within with fame"?) Musically, pop lovers like me'll pick up traces of Zion Illinois' finest, not to mention bits of later Flamin' Groovies and squishy folk-poppers like the Association. It's the kind of thoughtful 60's-indebted pop-rock, in other words, that doesn't stand a chance in hell of getting played on the radio today - but thankfully seems to be surviving thanx to a coterie of cultish addicts, many of 'em too young to've "outgrown" this sneakily hook-filled retro sound.

In the end, & I You's quiet and determinedly tuneful sound has spurred me into seeking out Eimerman's three earlier solo albums. And also into wondering just what the heck the Murphy Bros. have been up to lately. . .

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