NEW REVIEWS FOR "ALL SIDES" BELOW:

FREIGHT TRAIN BOOGIE - NOV. 30, 2007 - 4.5 STARS!!

"There has to be more than a little bit of Rear Admiral David Farragut in Doug Kwartler. After two well-received earlier recordings, assembling the third can present a bit of a stumbling block that a lot of artists stub their creative toes upon. Well, none of that for Kwartler : what does he do? he takes the bull by the horns and releases a double disc set. Not recommended for the faint of heart.

The first CD, titled Just About to Die , resonates with echoes of Dixieland, folk, mountain bluegrass, ("Just Walk Away" features some great fiddle sawin'), and some whimsical moments, as in "Closest New York Friend". As in his previous work, Kwartler handles the lion's share of the instrumentation, with some assistance from a few judiciously chosen sidemen. Aficionados of Kwartler's more aggressive persona will find their fix on Strong , the second disc, with its anthemed title track being a personal favourite. There's definitely more roll herein, but the same intelligence and detail that has always marked Kwartler's songwriting is evident in abundance. There's not a superfluous song to be found.

Way to go Doug, "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead". - Don Grant, Freighttrainboogie.com

CTRL.ALT.COUNTRY.BE - NOV. '07 - 4 STARS!!

“All Sides” is de uitstekende derde van New Yorker Doug Kwartler. Die in twee duidelijke helften uiteenvallende opvolger van het in 2003 boven de doopvont gehouden “Halfway House” en het een jaar later op de wereld gezette “Silver Meteor” deed ons nog net iets meer naar adem happen dan zijn twee toch ook al bepaald niet misse voorgangers. In de songs op “Just About To Die”, de eerste van de twee CD’s, is Kwartler ondermeer in de weer met elementen ontleend aan folk, bluegrass, traditionele country en jazz. Op CD 2, het zijn titel alle eer aandoende “Strong”, ligt de nadruk meer op (roots)rock en pop. Men denke daarbij bijvoorbeeld aan acts als Wilco, Ryan Adams en Josh Ritter. Vooral de wat rustigere nummers van Kwartler kunnen zich moeiteloos meten met het betere werk van die veel bekendere namen. We denken dan bijvoorbeeld aan prachtsongs als de ballades “Park Avenue” en “Ghosts” en het licht bluesy gekleurde “Two Kinds”. Maar ook melodieuze rockertjes als “Always Looking Down”, “Senses Closing In” en “Bangor” gingen er hier in als zoete koek, hoor. En dan hadden we het nog niet eens over het rootsy spul op “Just About To Die”! Daar valt werkelijk geen enkel week moment tussen te bekennen! Van het met een snuifje mardi grass gezegende “Banjo Eyes” over de country rock van “Just Walk Away” en de jazzy trage “Closest New York Friend” tot de sfeervolle akoestische Americana van “A Simpler Life”, van de even eigenzinnige als geslaagde Bruce Hornsby-cover “On The Western Skyline” over het speels naar bluegrass neigende “Honey Brown” of de op een lekker streepje mondharmonica geënte meezinger “Just About To Die” tot het melancholische “Suzanne”, van de broeierige trage “I Made It To Saturday Night” over de alweer zeer zwierige Americana van “Charlestown” tot de gevoelsmatig zijn titel helemaal waar makende afsluiter “Lonely Tonight”, het zijn stuk voor stuk ijzersterke nummers. En “All Sides” verdient alleen al daarom dan ook absoluut onze aanbeveling.

REVIEWS FOR SILVER METEOR BELOW:

POP CULTURE PRESS - AUSTIN, TX

March - 2005 - Doug Kwartler - Silver Meteor (Hollow Body Records)

Silver Meteor is Doug Kwartler’s second solo release and sticks close to his alternative country roots. Kwartler paints incredibly vivid pictures of the American landscape, and the imagery created is rich and meaningful. Lyrics on “Come on City Save My Soul (Wilmington)" create a sense of mysterious hope such as when you return home after being away for too long. The songs on Silver Meteor, all written by Kwartler, are country-breathed and as honest as they are haunting. The lyrics are fantastic. “Show me your bullets and I’ll show you my gun,” from I Need Your Darkness is dazzling in its effectiveness. The playing on Silver Meteor is just as evolved as the songwriting. Kwartler, who has been playing guitar since he was 15, does a masterful job escorting the music through the songs and shows a knack for creating drama in the music; a pause here and there to allow the piano or fiddle to come through sets the dramatic tone of the record without weighing it down. (Lance Looper)

ALTCOUNTRY.NL NAMES SILVER METEOR AS A TOP 10 CD OF 2004!

12/24/04 - Niek De Boer of AltCountry.nl names Silver Meteor as one of the Top 10 CD's of 2004! -
Click here for the link. Here's his list below:

1. Stephen Simmons- Last Call. 2. Joe West- South Dakota Hairdo 3. Ron Sexsmith-Retriever
4. Jeff Finlin-Epinonymous 5. Eliza Gilkyson-Land of Milk and Honey 6. Nels Andrews-Sunday Shoes
7. JW Roy-Kitchen Table Blues 8. Doug Kwartler - Silver Meteor 9. Dave McCann-Country Medicine
10. Loomer-Love is a Dull Instrument

ALTCOUNTRY.NL - 4 STARS!! (4 - HORSES)
Doug Kwartler “Silver Meteor” (Hollow Body Records 2004) (Published Monday, Dec. 14, 2004)
Review by Niek de Boer (Click here for AltCountry.nl web site)

(Translated by Niek himself to English as best he could)

A year ago (review December 2003) Alt.Country already wrote promising words about the debut "Halfway House" of Foundry singer Doug Kwartler. At that time it seemed to be a solo CD as a mediation for the Foundry record "Give me a reason to Live" which would be released also.

In the meantime we know after listening Kwartler's second CD "Silver Meteor" (Hollow Body Records) that we have to do with a more than talented songwriter who made with this second a more than good record and surpasses his debut. With the heavy rockin' opener "Disappear" it starts all the way and some compare him with Ryan Adams. Kwartlers special liking for trains is brought in the country song "Silver Meteor" which he also mentions in the inlay and a fear of flying is the reason of bringing many hours in Amtrak trains.

Doug Kwartler's voice is not only a good one but he is also an excellent guitar player. Just as the first record Kwartlers companion is Michael Leuci who plays drums but also keys and bass. Beautiful it is when Mark Spencer plays lapsteel in the "be lost in a reverie" song "82nd Street" where the melancholy drips off and Kwartler recalls this street in New York. Or how about "the King", a love song with beautiful vocals of Alli Collis;

Yes, the songs from Doug Kwartler may take longer than five minutes. Before you know it it's over. With "Beautiful Commotion" the record is officially finished but with 2 bonus tracks a second version of "nothing" follows in a beautiful piano arrangement from Michael Leuci and also a live version of the rockin' "Mars" of "Halfway House"
together with nice bar sounds. With his fear of flying I fear we have to do it with his records. At the end of this year
I have to reconsider my year list of best records.

FREIGHT TRAIN BOOGIE.COM - 4 STARS!!
Doug Kwartler “Silver Meteor” (Hollow Body Records 2004) (Published Monday, Nov. 29, 2004)
Review by Don Grant (Click here for FTB web site)

I think that Doug Kwartler is on a roll here. The tapestry of the Americana landscape that he started to weave in Halfway House is expanded in this, his second solo outing. This New Yorker reminds me of John Mellencamp in his country moments, a bit of early Dylan, (lyrically, not vocally!), and, when his subject matter is the road and movement, as in the Mex-flavoured title track, it's an emotional combination of Simon & Garfunkel's “America” and Matt Minglewood's “Swing Low Sweet Cadillac”. You can't judge a book by its cover, and you can't judge an artist by the age evidenced by his/her photograph. Kwartler's depth of perception and knack for getting ‘inside' the mundane and the everyday amazes me in one who looks so young. That capacity usually only arrives after kicking one's ass around the block several times. He has been compared to Ryan Adams, and on the bonus live track, “Mars”, I can see the correlation, but, I think his observations run a mite deeper than Adams' do. Who says you can't find good Americana in the megapolitan sprawl of urban America? It's not a state of geography so much as a state of mind.


AMERICANA-UK.COM
Doug Kwartler “Silver Meteor” (Hollow Body Records 2004) (Published Monday, Nov. 22, 2004)
Available: Now. Review by Michael Mee

The message is clear: look out Ryan and co. If there is any justice then Silver Meteor should do for Doug Kwartler what Gold did for Ryan Adams and The Art Of Self Destruction did for Jesse Malin. Whether it catapults Kwartler into the national limelight may be in the lap of the gods but Silver Meteor sends out a clear and unequivocal message, there's a new kid in town.

The comparison with Adams and Malin is reinforced by the album's opening track Disappear, it has the same rock undercurrent and aggressive attitude that is the trademark of both. Although this is Kwartler's second solo release, Halfway House being the first, it has an unsophisticated impatience, more reminiscent of the debut of a musician in a hurry. Maybe that's as much to do with his coming from New York, Kwartler is a street smart performer and his songs have dark places and shady characters.

Writers like Kwartler makes an instant connection, his songs are so perceptive that there's no barrier to cross to get to the point, Wilmington is about as up close and personal as it can get without Kwartler being in your living room. If you buy into singer songwriters, and for the life of me I can't imagine why you wouldn't, then tracks like Nothing become irresistible. Wonderfully gentle guitars mix country and blues into a melody that allows Kwartler to float the song into your consciousness.

As it is with the very best, Doug Kwartler is as skilled portraying the bottomless beauty of I Need Your Darkness or 82nd Street, or the very much harder Come Tomorrow. The reason for that is that everything on Silver Meteor is rooted in reality. Nothing happens because it is contrived or staged, the music flows naturally and because it's right. There's also a super little live cameo at the end with a reprise of Nothing and an extra track Mars. Kwartler on record is a treat, if these two live tracks are indicative, then he's better when you can see the whites of his eyes.

* * * * (4 - Stars!) Roots Music Report gives Halfway House 4 Stars and says: "An ingeniously compiled CD that has the potential to climb to the top of the charts." Click here to read review on Roots Music Report.