Search - Kelley Stoltz :: Past Was Faster

The Present Is OK.....NOW, anyway...

Mike Fornatale | NJ, USA | 01/10/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Kelley Stoltz has given you the BEST--bar none--homemade record EVER. True, you'd never mistake this for a big-budget production, and that's what pushes it over the top.The main attraction--the songs themselves. These tunes would be wonderful regardless of the treatment they received. Do you miss the days when every song on an album sounded DIFFERENT? Then this is the next CD you need to buy, Bucky.I'll confess I don't really hear the Beefheart everyone else is talking about....that component is a little bit closer to the Three Johns jamming with the Crusaders......(shudder!) But there are healthy dollops of everything from Nick Drake to Bauhaus.....and an absolutely chilling Syd Barrett-inspired song, "Vapor Trail," which makes Robyn Hitchcock sound like Andy Kim.You NEED this album."

Leave it in the past and move into the glow

bretpayne | Warrenton, VA United States | 02/04/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I'm glad I heard Antique Glow before I heard the Past was Faster. If it had been the other way around, I might have not have even cared to go check out Antique Glow.This cd has a handful of gracious moments. The rest I would describe as Kelley sponging his influences and lacking the refinement/talent to wring out his own style. If you'd like to hear him in the beginning stages of discovering his own voice and laying down tracks that sound more like incomplete compositions, you may want to pick this up. I'd suggest Antique Glow instead of this album. On that album your palette won't be overwhelmed with the aromas of Robyn Hitchcock, Nick Drake, Syd Barrett, Beatles, Captain Beefheart, etc. like it will be here."

Ancient chinese secret, huh?

walgren@compuserve.com | Royal Oak , Michigan | 12/20/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Kelley Stoltz has finally let himself go with his debut production, The Past Was Faster. Known to many as the purveyer of ambient beauty and mayhem, he is no stranger to harmony and structure. All of wich are presented very conciously in this new release. The Past Was Faster is indeed a very soulful album. Every melody, every instrument, every electronic pop, twist, and crackle, was laid out and arranged buy the artist. No help, and very littel feedback during it's production. Intern, what you get is a sample history of the of Mr. Stoltz himself. Raw, humorous, sentimental, and twisted. " Popular Diseases" may well be the best song writen in the second half of this decade. It is an ode to the present day. Confident in complacency, unaware that we're lost." Cardnal Body" is a successful practice in production play and momentum. Very listener frindly. Of course we can't neglect a gem like "The Fog Has Lifted". This song comes as no suprise after a gloomy San Francisco winter and a heavy dose of Capt. Beefheart's ," Clear Spot." . "Fog" is playfull and restless and represents yet another side of Kelley's wonderful imagination and ability. This album is not only a triumphant debut ,but a piece that will resinate as a cornerstone for self-produced up-and-comers ...well , to come. Artist and friend, Gus Walgren"