the PCP - Afterthought

The PCP, and no that stand for Angel dust, but rather to the new and adventurous release the Pat Cioffi project. This is a unique groove, take some rock, blues, folk, and progressive. The opening number Human Nature begins with some funk that has a flavor of the Doobie Brothers. Some well crafted accompanied with musicianship that is very strong and slaps you at all the right places. I do have to inform you to go to the PCPs CDBaby page and listen to a few clips, I like the vocals here as they are raw, gruff and add to the landscape, however I like a raw sound, there are many who would disagree with me.

The PCP  have create a semi-flashback CD that is true and honest and has the funky overtones that make Afterthough a CD that will give you one of two responses, you will either love it or dislike it, there is no in-between . A truly unique project that showcases the PCP as fine artists and very capable songwriters. The next time around however I do hope Pat and company go with an outside producer, Pat Cioffi penned all the tracks here himself. 

Producing your own work is fine if you can do it well, I believe a competent producer would help the PCP truly find their musical roots, I have worked with some artists and I found even though the artists are usually the hardest on themselves, some constructive criticism is needed here. There are a couple places that Pat Cioffi fall flat in his vocals, I believe another pair of ears would even help his vocals, and take away the peaks and valleys that he has fallen over. 

Can they play? Absolutely and with just a little buffering I am sure they will get better. This is not, by any means, in my top 10, although it is good enough for me to recommend  the CD. The native New Yorker has started the ball rolling, and I say keep it up. There's room for improvement and may not be to your personal taste, but when you think about tastes there are some that don't like Seger or Mellencamp, either, keep plugging, and just try to get a bit of polishing for your voice.

( 4 Stars out of 6 )