All Is Good

Mike Strauss’s new CD, After All, ends with a lullaby. A sweet tune that could be sung to a child or a lover, “Pretty Face” features Strauss’s gruff voice accompanied by his lone, gentle guitar—the combination of sonic opposites that characterized his last album, How in the World? But while there are similarities between the new disc and the old, After All presents a different side of Strauss. “On Accident,” a fun country-pop tune, opens the CD with an upbeat energy that recurs throughout, though the musical styles vary. “Lesser of the Two,” for example, is a gospel-tinged song that, like “On Accident,” immediately grabs the ear and sets the foot to tapping.

Mike Strauss’s new CD, After All, ends with a lullaby. A sweet tune that could be sung to a child or a lover, “Pretty Face” features Strauss’s gruff voice accompanied by his lone, gentle guitar—the combination of sonic opposites that characterized his last album, How in the World? But while there are similarities between the new disc and the old, After All presents a different side of Strauss. “On Accident,” a fun country-pop tune, opens the CD with an upbeat energy that recurs throughout, though the musical styles vary. “Lesser of the Two,” for example, is a gospel-tinged song that, like “On Accident,” immediately grabs the ear and sets the foot to tapping.

With the pumped-up tempos comes heartier percussion. In fact, the loud and rather routine drumming threatens to overpower some of the songs. After All has much to recommend it, but it would benefit from less backbeat and more of Strauss’s excellent playing. The album is at its best in his all-too-rare guitar solos—a beautiful instrumental, “Dirt Simple,” that is frustratingly short; a bluesy set of riffs in “Gone Electric”; an intricate, expanded phrase in “The Lion’s Share.” Listen for these gems. And listen, too, for the fine contributions of area musicians like Lenny Federal (harmonica), Ron Brendle (bass), and Bob Barone (pedal steel).