Chris Bullinger Drops New Album

Chris Bullinger’s concept project continues on ‘Waiting To Be Seen Part 2,’ backloading the story with 10 more songs to digest, so if you’re not familiar with Part 1, you’ll be led back to it anyway. You will also find how it threads together and what they all have in common. But a song is a song at the end of the day, so there’s something here for any folk music audience, it can be taken in either way you slice it. I advise hearing Part 1 first, but that’s only because I appreciate the whole concept. They both have an equal amount to appreciate and that is why. 

 Accepting the fate of the world is written all over these songs, as they deal with post war lyrics and the rest is to be heard. “Crawlin’ My Way Back To You” contends for the best track on Part 2, with the funny lyrics taking it over the top. It nicely paves the way for everything to be heard on the album, as it picks right up from Part 1 and goes into “Meet You Down The Line” which also contends for one of the best moments for me, after only a few spins. 

 The piano playing, stings, and all instruments are perfectly blended on this album, which features on every track without washing out Bullinger’s voice anywhere in the picture. “Salvation As I know It” brings even more to offer as Part 2 plays out in the balance of tunes that only speak for themselves. More can be said but only so much space is afforded in this review, otherwise it’s difficult to describe every particle aspect of this and other tracks to influence readers. The same goes for “Better Half” other than to say it brings up the tempo and is a very fine country laden tune. 

 “Remember Me” puts the story into another perspective, as Bullinger appears to have many, and even though we’ve heard a lot of the same level of what anyone from what Gordon Lightfoot to Bob Dylan went on to innovate, it takes nothing away from his addition to that tradition. “Through The Dark” sounds like a dark song but it’s really more outgoing and adventurous on the other hand, as to attempt to dispel the darkness. It helps get to the next level where “Shine” obviously takes things to a boiling point on Waiting To Be Seen Part 2. And although darker than the previous track suggests being, it’s just because it keeps going from one story to the next, relative to the ones before it in the track list. 

 “Lazy Green Dream” gets my pick for the best song on offer here, with a lower register from Bullinger, and a grooving organ carrying it down the stream into a tasty guitar solo as it just rocks along. It almost reminds me of “Watching The River Flow” by Bob Dylan. All in all, this is a great release by an artist on a mission back to his music.

Michael Rand