Thursday, May 28, 2015

Band Review: Tales Untold


After I reviewed This Good Robot, I had this nagging feeling that if my former classmate, sketch comic, actor, and DJ Ted Douglass were in a band, it would be that band. He agreed they were close, but really, it would be Tales Untold, with whom I was unfamiliar. That made it necessary to check them out.

They're really good.

This Portland, Oregon (via McMinnville) band list themselves as pop rock, but recently that implies a lack of substance; that is not a problem here. I detect a folk influence, which manifests as a mellow feeling. They are more pop than the Traveling Wilburys, and less classical than ELO, but I believe Jeff Lynne would like this group.

(And fans of This Good Robot probably would like them, but they might be a better fit with Science.)

I found thirteen tracks on ReverbNation. I found references to other songs that I could not locate, but the band was active at a time when digitizing everything wasn't happening. There may be a lot of music out there that isn't online, but "Going Out Tonight", the one track that seems to have a fan video on Youtube, is in fact on Reverb Nation.

It is also a really good tune, so I strongly recommend checking it out.

My favorite was probably "Too Good". Please note the way the guitar wails, and then how the different instruments layer together to build a rich sound. It can be easy to get caught up in the emotion and not notice the skill, but it's there.

They have a good selection overall. Some tracks, like "Sister Satellite" and "Matahari" sound more exotic, and faintly psychedelic. Many of the songs bring in additional instruments, "Circus Freak" brings in animal noises, and it does sound like the circus. Mainly, the songs just rock.

Overall, Tales Untold is a good find. Their page says they are back from hiatus, so this is a good time to catch up.

I could only find two active URLs for now.



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1 comment:

  1. Here's lots for you to listen to and thanks for the review!!!!

    https://soundcloud.com/don-schwarz/sets/tales-untold

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