Search - Ray Bonneville :: Roll It Down

"Roll It Down" Will Lift You Up

D.D. Rocker | Hamilton, Ontario, Canada | 11/05/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Mr. Bonneville makes a good case study, musically anyway, for tearing down the border between the U.S. and Canada, referring to himself simply as "North American".



Straight from the opening track, "Tomorrow's Yesterday", this easy-going, happy-go-lucky collection of originally-penned roots-rock and Cajun-flavoured country-blues songs will have you tapping your foot and humming along with guaranteed repeat listens! To add icing to the musical delicacy, Ray's smooth-as-velvet vocals lie somewhere among those of Paul Simon, Otis Taylor, J.J. Cale and even Eric Clapton, all of whom are long-time favourites of mine!



This is actually one of those CDs that I would hate to see being chopped into single tracks, as they seem, collectively, to be essential working parts of one big happily-chugging vehicle. That being said, the individual songs that stick in my head are "Under the Bridge", "Roll It Down", "July Sun", "Oxford Town", "Slow Matin (en bilingue)" and "Who's Talkin' to Me".



The tracks are all short and sweet, with non-pretentious, non-profane lyrics, which would also make it suitable for the listening enjoyment of not-yet-jaded people of the younger generation. It's absolutely beautiful in its entirety!"

#4's a Champ!

Lee Armstrong | Winterville, NC United States | 11/13/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Roll It Down" is Ray Bonneville's 4th CD. His 1996 debut "Solid Ground" on the Canadian Audiogram label was a great beginning. "Gust of Wind" was entirely excellent with the title track being a great classic track. I got the song "Rough Luck" on a Folk Alliance Showcase compilation, but have not found his 3rd release. "Roll It Down" was one, therefore, that I wanted to get before it goes out of print or becomes hard to find. The opener "Tomorrow's Yesterday" gets more bounce to the ounce from Bonneville's guitar, Colin Linden's big bounce bass and Geoff Arsenault's percussion than most musicians get from a full band. The title track also moves and snakes joyfully, "Wrote by a trembling hand on the shore in the sand, do you love me like I love you; the tide is gonna rise & make the words slide away, but they're still true." "Slow Matin" is interesting for the way that Bonneville interweaves English & French as if they were one language, able to be rhymed & combined together at will. "Matin" meaning "morning" & "aujourd'hui" being "today," he sings, "You got sleepy eyes aujourd'hui; it's a slow matin." "Tiptoe Spider" highlights more of Bonneville's unique guitar sound with the strings plucked sprightly imitating the quick little footsteps of a spider. "Oxford Town" is a sweet slow melody about a guy who fantasizes about his ideal love, "I lie awake in my hotel room, in my mind you're coming on strong, same story line plays on & on." "Walk With Me" is superb & catchy. Bonneville is making consistently strong CDs with flashes of classic brilliance, not to be missed. Enjoy!"