Personal songs tell a story (for a change)
08/22/1998
(5 out of 5 stars)
"personal glimpses of his inner psyche, evocative, introspective songs. if you don't like such artistic attempts, don't buy it. I found this CD refreshing due to the honesty and vulnerability of the singer, he expresses his insecurities in a soothing popish non-grating fashion and is a welcome relief from the strutting egomaniacs who normally inhabit Popland. I particularly like the Axl and Iggy song which pokes fun at pop and artists.If he has to sing about love he does so in an unconventional after the fact way as if rgurgitating a bad piece of meat. The songs have a staying power, haunt, they do not dry up after repeated listening as do most songs."
A Gorgeously Depressing/Wistful Album
11/17/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"An EXCELLENT album, full of sparkling/shimmering guitars, heavily reverberating keyboards, gorgeously written songs, and F.M. Cornog's lonely, nasal voice. These little sonic gems were recorded in an apartment in Astoria, Queens on an eight-track tape recorder, but you'd never know it by the sound of it ...Somehow, it all meshes together. Musically, it's a puree of Velvet Underground, U2, Neil Young, Television, Galaxie 500 and Eno. The subject matter includes a male go-go dancer, a would-be rockstar, driving past airports at night, and drinking beer. A winner."
A Worthy Obscurity
James Carragher | New York | 02/01/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"East River Pipe is one-man, F.M. Cornog, who recorded all his decidedly lo-fi songs in an apartment in Queens. Which makes his lush, layered instrumentation, frequently like Luna, Yo La Tengo's love songs or Spector on a severe budget, all the more remarkable. The stories wrapped in this sound brim over with solitude, missed opportunities, regret and loneliness, but somehow never depress. His characters are misfits come to the city, to find not success but at least the consolation that in a city of millions, there's a fit for everyone.
Of the 15 songs, only three are blah, Psychic Whore, Firing Room and When Will Your Friends Disappear. The best superbly combine loneliness and beauty or, maybe, show beauty and loneliness as two facets of the same life diamond -- Make a Deal with the City, Silhouette Town, Times Square Go-Go Boy, and 40 Miles.
Shining Hours in a Can is strange, one of a kind and wonderful."
Track Listings (17) - Disc #1