My favorite number is the
Springfield-like strut of “Darkness
Falls So Quiet,” a moody, Muscle
Shoals-inspired horn track with
a touch Bobbi Gentry’s down-
home soul. All of the soulfulness
of “Goodnight Rhonda Lee” would
make Sounds of Asbury Park archi-
tects Bruce Springsteen and Steve
Van Zandt proud, especially this
track because it stirs up the same
emotions as “Candy’s Room” from
Springsteen’s 1978 classic “Dark-
ness on the Edge of Town.”
Everyone, especially anxious
high school and college kids, can
benefit from the message of the
Candi Staton-flavored “Listen Up”:
“It takes mistakes to grow.” I espe-
cially love the line: “I should have
listened up when I was young, but
I always talked too much.”
Born out of a struggle with so-
briety and fulfillment, “Goodnight
Rhonda Lee” shares some of that
emotional and personal tug-of-
war on the beautiful piano-and-vi-
olin-driven ballad “Colors” and the
closing turmoil of “Dream without
Pain.” In a bye-bye to bad behav-
ior, Dusty Springfield is all over the
Spanish-tinged title track with a
Listen to “Darkness Falls So Quiet” by Nicole Atkins
NJ STAGE 2017 - Vol. 4 No. 6
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