The Good Guys

The Good Guys

The latest and most ambitious Sinclair Soul project called The Good Guys is set for release on December 9, 2019. Recording of this album took place at Paul Smith‘s state-of-the-art Eight Days a Week recording studio in Northumberland, PA during the winter and spring of 2018-2019. A major session was held on December 10, 2018, as composer and vocalist Ric Albano celebrated his 50th birthday with an incredibly productive recording session with Paul along with drummer Ron Simasek, vocalist Mycenea Worley, guitarist Phil Brosius, multi-instrumentalist Bret Alexander and audio engineer Jake Albano.

Some of you may know Phil from his extensive work with many local bands and Mycenea, an award winning singer-songwriter and current member of the group The Pleiades. You may also remember Bret, Paul and Ron as long time members of the internationally acclaimed rock group The Badlees and current members of the rock group Gentlemen East. So I am incredibly humbled to have this posse of top-notch musicians and production team with over a century of combined experience at all levels of the music industry.

The Good Guys will follow the previous Sinclair Soul albums, The Journey in 2017 and Reflections of Relevance in 2018.

You can read more on The Good Guys project at SinclairSoul.com

Baring My “Soul” on a Saturday Night

Sinclair SoulIt has been five years since I’d done this and I had sworn it off many times before. I tried doing it during several fits and starts in the early 1990s, but none of those worked. Through the years I was convinced to do it for various causes, once even in a chemotherapy unit to cheer up the patients, but none of those times worked out as planned. But this past Saturday night (08/24/13) I gave it one more shot.

I performed my music solo, without support, without a net, at the Cornerstone Coffeehouse in Camp Hill, PA. Now, for most this may not seem like a big deal, after all the Cornerstone always has solo performers playing on the weekends. But for me this was truly an event. It was a sort of mission and redemption wrapped in one. Long ago, I concluded that my musical talents lie in composing and not performing, although I have been involved in scores of rock bands and have played every major position on the field – lead vocal, guitar, bass, keyboards, drums. However, being a bit of a control freak, bands have always felt limiting and the urge to do it alone has persisted despite the consistent disasters when attempted.

What brought me out this time was the fact that I have composed a whole bunch of new songs but have not had the time nor resources to record it. I had spent five years on my previous recording project, a 33-song double CD international release called Imaginary Lines 33 , in 2009. I was also involved with a band and we recorded an album in 2010 that never got released because of internal disagreements. At that time I was pretty sure I was retired from all things music. But that pesky muse kept bothering me, and soon new song ideas started to form. I came up with the idea of “One More Rock to Roll” as an upfront declaration that this would be my last go-round. I also brought back the fictional “Sinclair Soul”, an alias I had used for years when writing articles as well as on some music projects.

The music was written on piano but had rich arrangements for several guitars and other rock instruments. I was eager to enlist many of the fine musicians I had worked with over the years as well as find a “front man” to handle the dynamic vocals, but as of mid 2013 I had not had any luck getting the recording process started. So I inquired about playing my songs solo on piano at the Cornerstone, a website client of mine and a much better alternative to performing at a bar room or any other “noisy” situation.

So, after all this background, how did the gig itself go?

In one sense it was quite a disappointment. Many of the folks I invited did not show up and I didn’t quite get the capacity crowd I had hoped for. Also, I made some really air-headed mistakes on some of the cover songs I performed (the songs which I , ironically, walked into the gig without performance worries).

However, in a larger sense Saturday’s gig was a tremendous success. I performed 14 brand new “Sinclair Soul” songs (including one so new that it doesn’t yet have a name) and each went off without a hitch. None of these songs had every been performed live for anyone except my dog and these were obviously my main focal point on Saturday’s gig. The dozen or so cover songs and three old Imaginary Lines tunes were really just there to fill up the two hour commitment.

Also, the crowd that was there was tremendous in quality if not quantity. For the first time ever, I performed music with my wife, all three sons, and mother in the audience. The rest of the audience gave me a warm reception, even if many only sat in for a song or two while they enjoyed a coffee, beverage, or ice cream cone. There was a woman in the audience who knitted throughout the first set and gave me the resultant winter hat when she was completed. There was also a tremendously talented musician in the audience named Suzi Brown who stayed for the whole gig and gave a compliment at the end and, of course, the Cornerstone staff was gracious and helpful.

Although I was hoping to perform everything perfectly and fill the place up, it didn’t quite work that way. But getting the new songs out there after all this time kind of made them real entities and not just figments of my imagination, which makes this past Saturday a very special occasion indeed.

~

Ric Albano
aka “Sinclair Soul”
SinclairSoul.com

Sinclair Soul Songs

   Song Length Album
 33 Flames for Mary  5:57 Reflections of Relevance
 And They Do All Still Exist  3:47 The Good Guys
 Anthem  4:42 Reflections of Relevance
 Believe  4:19 The Journey
 Better Days, Better Ways/td>

 2:59 The Good Guys
 Can’t Get My Mojo Risin’  2:14 Nine Fine Lines
 Come Home Now  4:50 Reflections of Relevance
 Delicately Dancing the Dogwhistle Diddy  5:45 Reflections of Relevance
 Found Love  3:24 The Journey
 Good Friday  7:50 The Journey
 The Good Guys  4:29 The Good Guys
   Song Length Album
 Here On the Beach  3:01 Nine Fine Lines
 It’s Only Love  3:59 The Good Guys
 The Last Day of February  5:35 The Journey
 Last Man to Walk Alone  3:47 Reflections of Relevance
 Long Way Home  6:17 The Journey
 Lorelei  6:27 Nine Fine Lines
 Louis Le Geant  3:04 Nine Fine Lines
 The Memory Hole  4:36 Reflections of Relevance
 One Reflective Fool  8:59 Reflections of Relevance
 Only Time Will Tell  3:09 The Good Guys
 Perfect Light  5:26 Nine Fine Lines
   Song Length Album
 The Pennsylvania Poet  6:24 The Good Guys
 The Phoenix  5:12 Nine Fine Lines
 Remember  3:20 The Good Guys
 A River and a Soul  4:52 The Good Guys
 Roaring 20s  3:16 The Good Guys
 San Anton  4:42 The Journey
 She Said  3:07 Nine Fine Lines
 Tommy’s Got a Gun  3:11 Nine Fine Lines
 Truth  6:07 The Good Guys
 Try Again  2:33 The Journey
 You Sure Were Fun  4:16 Nine Fine Lines