Richard Kaufmann – Common Senses
As a member of Philadelphia bands Electric Love Muffin (late-’80s) and the Rolling Hayseeds (early-’90s), Richard Kaufmann was involved in the burgeoning alt-rock and alt-country movements, respectively, but his obvious affection for classic AM-radio pop always steered him just a bit off the party line.
On Common Senses, Kaufmann dumps all pretenses and indulges his unerring melodic sense to create an across-the-dial salute to a bygone radio ethos. The ten originals are dressed up with a wide array of evocative instrumental ornamentations (chromatic harp, celeste, synthesized baritone sax, strings, etc.) and ethereal, buoyant female backing vocals. The album is buffered from a descent into cloying slickness by varied pacing, an informal mix, and the singer’s endearingly wobbly pipes.
Kaufmann’s slightly pinched adenoidal bleating most often resembles Jules Shear’s, but there are extended, exhilarating stretches when he channels the likes of the Rascals’ Felix Cavaliere, The Band’s Richard Manuel, Quicksilver’s Dino Valenti and even Charlie Rich. Yoiks.
Relentlessly tuneful, Common Senses borrows liberally from pop radio’s checkered past: bubble-gum rock, Foundations/Chairmen Of The Board-style beach music, Hot Chocolate-inspired dance-floor jive, and slow-dance gropers, to mention just a few. Unfettered by current styles or expectations, Kaufmann has delivered an honest, revealing personal journal that’s clearly a labor of love.