Review

  Soaring out of the clear blue sky and landing on a dirty windswept street in Kearny, N.J.; is a brand new album by a bunch of young musicians who are out to make their mark in the world. Judging by this first entry; mark it they will! The band's name is Clear Blue and their message and mission is quite clear, (at least to this writer). This album contains all original material and is self -produced. Not a shabby way to start. They also play all of the instruments on it.

                The band is led by V.J. Manzo; who wrote most of the songs, sings lead on many of them, and is the lead guitarist. His brother Christopher Manzo plays bass. All comparisons to Hanson start and stop here! John Sosa is the other guitar player and musically; can hit home runs like Sammy. Jason DiSarro plays keyboards and the drummer is Steve Paul. There is just not enough of Jason on this album. He has an understated way of playing that just fills in the gaps nicely. Someone once said that it's not how much you play but, what you play.

                 As for the drummer; all I can say is you gotta hear this young man for yourself. He reminds of  me of Keith Moon ; generating an excitement as he plays. Once he gets going , there is no stopping him, the kid is all over the drum set and with Chris Manzo complementing him on bass; they set a steady rhythm throughout this album.

                   There are five female vocalists on this album; each one talented in their own right. Kristen Botelho, Helena Rei DiSarro, Rachel Paul, Cheryl Botelho, and Cait Clancy. There is just not enough of them on this album, not for this boy's taste anyway!

Onto the music................................ 

Hole in Me  is flat out punk raver that reverberates with the excitement of an early (dare I say it), the early Beatles , when they were more energy than professionalism. Really jumps out and grabs ya! 

     Transition  is an acoustic instrumental that I thought was going to set us up for the next track. But the next track is another punk raver and so we really do not go into any sort of transition. But please don t misunderstand me, the song itself is nice but would have fit better after track 3 and before track 4; as you will see in a minute.                                                                     

 Way That Things Should Be  is the third track and is another flat out raver with the excitement and energy of track one. I love both of these songs as I have always loved Punk Rock. This is music reminiscent of Mike Stand and the Altar Boys. But there is no comparison and they are not copying their sound.  

 Fill Me Now  is the fourth song , and here the tempo and the mood totally shift. This is why , Transition  would have been more effective if it had been placed before this song. This song is sung  by Rachel Paul and was written by her. This is a very pretty acoustic number with an insight usually not seen by someone her age. We look for more!

 Means The World  is another acoustic song, sung  from the heart by V.J. The song is self explanatory and is touching in it s open admission of teenage angst of a fear many  older , more mature people still wrestle with.  

 Calm  is an instrumental that carries us into  Storm . This is really pretty and just floats so smoothly into  Storm .  Storm  is about the living the Christian Life. Which quite frankly, if your living it right; will always be a storm. Great song! Nice tempo changes, and again that great backbeat set up by Chris and Steve.  

 One Desire  is another song written and sung by Rachel Paul. This is an open plea to the Lord. More of a prayer than a song. This is just a beautiful number, a little more up-tempo than her first one.

 Here I Am  Finally after eight songs, we get to hear Kristen sing! This is probably the earliest  Clear Blue  song that we have heard. This song has existed in several different incarnations and I have to say that this sounds the most cohesive of all of them. An early rendition is available on the  Tuscarora Bootleg  that is hard to come by. Listen to it good , because it is the only lead vocal by Kristen on the whole album~! Let me be the first to lodge a protest. We want MOOOOORE! 

 Story Teller  an acoustic number about people giving their testimonies. A really nice song sung with an earnestness and heart that really touches you. Hey, this guy writes some deep songs! 

 Requiem  The last song and really appropriate here because I feel that none of the other songs could have followed it. This is the  piece de resistance  that the whole album has been working up to . This is my favorite. V.J. sings it from the heart and it really touches me in my heart. This is the essence of  Soul Music , when someone sings from their heart to yours. The whole band just shines on this one. The guitar interplay at the end between V.J. and J.P. is just so tender and sweet. No song could have followed this one and you have to hear it to see why. Just hit the  repeat  button on the CD player and let it go! 

        Well, that s the songs on this album and a good one it is . There is no  filler  material and it leaves this reviewer wanting for more.  Which leads to my list of complaints:

1.   There is just not enough of Kristen on this album, and we the listening public demand more!

2.  If there is not enough of Kristen, what about Cheryl? We didn t even get to hear her sing. If you have  ever heard Cheryl sing, you will know why I am complaining.

3.  Helena Rei DiSarro , another young lady who can belt one out. Don t let her diminutive size fool you, this little lady has a whole lotta voice!

4.  Cait Clancy; we really don t know too much , but we would love to hear her sing at least one.

              The way this reviewer sees it; the next album will have to be , at least; a three CD set. I think that this would be the only way for us to hear each of these talented people to our satisfaction.  At least;  That s The Way That Things Should Be  from this reviewer's perspective. 

    ~Submitted by Sgt. Barko (no guts, no glory)

Click here to post a follow-up in regards to this review or e-mail review@clearblueonline.com

Follow-UP

For starters, transition was placed as track 2 strategically. The transition occurs because tracks 1 and 3 are in different keys. Further, be it known that Clear Blue has already begun working on it's next big project. Although there is not much information being released by members of the band, we do promise that our next album will deal heavily with fusing more vocals in with our style. In shorter words: more voices, different ways of using vocals. [Rumor says: possibly a double CD]

~ V