Search - Wilson Meadows :: Memories

A former member of the Zircons, a fifties singing group which scored moderately with the novelty record "No Twisting On Sunday," it's no surprise that Meadows has been away from the music scene for a couple of decades. Meadows' vocal prowess has diminished and his songwriting skills on eight of these ten songs prove to be amateurish. The fact that Meadows wrote many of the Zircons' songs may explain why they were never a really big group. The musical programming is bland and makes all the fast songs sound repetitive and all the ballads sound like funeral processions. The only salvageable songs are the two Meadows did not write, "Where Will This Leave Me?" and "Just Like I Promised." Both are ballads with pleasing bridges and choruses. In a sweet dream I wonder how Meadows' tenor might have sounded against a real five-piece band, a sax solo and perhaps a few strings for the added sweetness this retro love ballads should have. The rest of this material is pedestrian. It seems absurd to hear a mature singer like Meadows seeking to create hard-edged, ear-to-the-ground R&B in the fashion of current R&B stars such as Gerald Levert or R. Kelly and doing it with yesterday's mindset and today's demo budget, the song "Stroll It" being but one laughable example. Mr. Meadows would be well advised to study peers such as Isaac Hayes, Barry White and Eddie Levert, who have successfully bridged the gap between yesteryear and the here and now.