May 21, 2013 - Segarini: Don't Believe A Word I Say
Frank Gutch Jr: The Best of the First Half of 2013 Laurie makes me laugh, and I say that with the utmost respect. She is one of the most unassuming and humble people I have ever “met” and also one of the most positive. I suppose she has moments when it comes to her music because it isn’t easy being a musician these days. The business was bad enough in the good old days, but now that you pretty much have to do everything yourself or accept the fates of the musical gods (which is inevitably a life of obscurity), it can wear you down fast. I’m sure she very occasionally wonders if this whole recording thing is worth it. Like I said, we all have our moments. Laurie has carved out a niche few seem to want to fill these days— she is all “sunshine pop” (kind of a cross between bubble gum and pop), surf, girl groups. When I hear her music, I dream of beaches and Beach Boys and woodies (the cars, bonehead— get your mind out of the gutter) and bikinis (God, but I love bikinis!). Her music smells of AM radio, a world the young will ever know and I feel sorry for them. Laurie bought a guitar and has been teaching herself how to play. Until recently, she was all about the keyboards, but when she got that guitar it must have felt like Christmas because she was all over social media with pictures and the trials of learning a new instrument. Like I tell everyone, I’m just glad it wasn’t a cat. I’m beginning to hate cats. Listening to Sanctuary (to get to the album part of this), I can hear that Laurie has learned her lessons well. Her previous three are solid albums and I love them (especially on a nice drive to the Coast on a warm, sunny day), but Sanctuary stands above. The vocals are exceptional, especially the deep harmonies, and the recording and mastering are as good as I’ve heard. You know, the only thing missing is a sax. Put a sax solo here and there and this would be perfect. Ask Moondoggie. He knows. A special DBAWIS commendation has to be awarded for Sunset, a stunning song co-written by Laurie and master guitarist Vinnie Zummo. Every time I hear it, it’s 1964 all over again. ~ Frank Gutch Jr.
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April 26, 2012 - Goldmine MagazineLaurie Biagini has released her third full-length, A Go-Go Girl in a Modern World , and it finds her covering much the same musical and lyrical ground as her first two releases: aural homages to sun-soaked days at the beach, jaunty, keyboard-based tunes, and a cornucopia of ‘60s-influenced numbers about go-go girls, secret agents and SUV’s. The clear highlight is the pretty, romantic ballad “An Innocent Love,” which sounds like it could have come straight off the soundtrack to a Sandra Dee movie. Biagini’s vocal delivery offers just the right amount of yearning on this tune, and her smooth background vocals are also quite fetching. Other goodies to be unearthed are the snappy “A Ride on the Train” (which pinches the main riff to “The Boy from New York City”) and the disc-closing “One Track Mind,” which has a slight Middle Eastern bent to it and features Biagini on lead guitar. On the other side of the coin, Biagini’s attempt at a secret agent-type number, “The Invisible Guy,” falls flat, with a decent melody buried by a morass of instruments in a murky mix. Oh, and many of these tunes cry out for a real drummer (rather than a drum machine), and a few miss the mark entirely. Still, Biagini is pretty good at what she does, and fans of ‘60s sunshine pop could do worse than to pick this disc up. Grade: B-
John Borack March, 2012 - Ear Candy Magazine
Laurie Biagini,"A Go-Go Girl In A Modern World" (Self-released) Just last week I pulled out my old Bangles albums to give them a listen, thinking to myself how I really miss that whole girl group sound of the '80s (which itself was a nod to the '60s). Well, I just discovered a "new" album that PERFECTLY recaptures that Sunshine Pop feeling: Laurie Biagini's "A Go-Go Girl In A Modern World"! Sure, Laurie sings about classic topics such as: California, beach, sand, and summertime - but she also gives Sunshine Pop treatment to SUV's ("My Little SUV") and commuter trains ("A Ride On The Train"). "The Invisible Guy" is the theme to a James Bond movie that never was, but should have been! In the immortal words of Mr. White ("That Thing You Do"), Laurie's music has something peppy, something happy, something up-tempo, and something snappy. Laurie flawlessly captures the Sunshine Pop essence in her songs - Damn, I wish I owned a convertable because this is THE perfect car album for summer! www.lauriebiagini.com Rating:**** Review by Ronnie Dec 23, 2011 - Blitz - The Rock and Roll Magazine for Thinking People A GO-GO GIRL IN A MODERN WORLD Laurie Biagini (Laurie Biagini) The role of echo in the production process has long served to enhance or sweeten a given session. At Sam Phillips’ Memphis, Tennessee-based Sun Records in the 1950s, echo (famously and often achieved via the placement of a microphone at the bottom of the studio’s staircase, with the respective vocalist situated at the top of the stairs) played a key role in creating the atmosphere of urgency and high drama that characterized many of the label’s landmark releases. In the early 1960s, producers Philip Harvey “Phil” Spector and Robert George “Joe” Meek each took the concept to the next level by incorporating generous amounts of echo into their work to create what in Spector’s case came to be known as the Wall of Sound. While Vancouver, British Columbia singer/songwriter Laurie Biagini may not be thinking in terms of other artists at this juncture, her just issued third album, A Go-Go Girl In A Modern World (recorded at Biallo Studio) nonetheless features a lavish helping of echo throughout its fourteen original compositions. As was the case with Phillips, Spector and Meek, that echo serves as common ground to unify her refreshingly diverse material in somewhat of a dreamscape setting. That material is a shining example of the tried and true adage, “part inspiration and part perspiration”. In terms of the former, Biagini has set the bar incredibly high for herself, citing such artists as Jan and Dean, the Monkees and Jackie DeShannon among her primary inspirations. With regards to the perspiration part of the process, Biagini faced what seemed to be an arduous task, at least from the long term perspective that covers all that transpired between the creative genesis of Jan and Dean, the Monkees and Jackie DeShannon and the present day. Throughout the intervening years, artists such as these have been cited with great regularity as catalysts for an endless stream of hopefuls, with mixed results. As such, for a fifth generation garage rock aspirant to bring something new to the table in that respect would be indicative of a greater vision and innate capacity for productivity, borne of no small amount of perspiration. Nonetheless, Biagini has done exactly that with A Go-Go Girl In A Modern World. With a title track highlighting her disenfranchisement with contemporary cultural mores, the stage is set for an invigorating ride through Biagini’s third person perspective on the creative process that drove her inspirations to great heights. “Third person” because Biagini is one of a growing number of fifth-generation artists who has no real time experience of the explosive growth that characterized that most fertile musical period from which her mentors came. Her understanding of their creative process is borne strictly from research, which means that it is relatively free of the cultural periphery that often clouds the artistic process with duly bound exegesis. But as the evidence herein indicates, Biagini has (to paraphrase Rick Nelson) learned her lesson well. With only a slight amount of revisionist perspective evident in the proceedings, she has painted a portrait of fourteen idyllic settings that, while paying some degree of homage to the perceived cultural periphery, instead primarily address a variety of musical settings with the attention of portraying said scenarios in the best possible light. To wit, In The Eyes Of A Little Girl is the most telling in that respect, featuring as it does a swirl of vocal harmonies and proclamations that are at once foundational and not bereft of a prerequisite amount of naïveté. Likewise, Summertime (an original, not to be confused with the George Gershwin-penned Rick Nelson/Billy Stewart monster classic) takes the basic template of the Fantastic Baggys’ This Little Woody and places Biagini in the position of awe struck, third person observer. That atmosphere of reluctant detachment also surfaces in the title track, with Biagini seemingly resigning to being victimized by chronology. However, A Go-Go Girl In A Modern World is not so much a deference to circumstances as it is a clarion call to rise above those circumstances by asserting one’s own creative muse. In that respect, Head In The Sand at once confronts and encourages potential colleagues from a first person tale of victory, asserting itself with a stamp of individuality that often escaped the second generation garage rockers in their attempts to faithfully execute the mission statements of their predecessors. The 6/8 ballad, An Innocent Love even finds Biagini at ease enough with the notion to stand in solidarity with the Kathy Young/Linda Scott model of unbridled optimism. The modern world take on the tried and true surf/hot rod format of My Little SUV, the refreshing rebuttal to genre myopia, One Track Mind and the Nashville/Brill Building hybrid, The Heart Of The Song round out the highlights of the set. While some purist factions may take issue with the generous use of echo and the borderline monaural mix, Laurie Biagini is nonetheless an artist very much in command of the proceedings, who has done her homework and again, has learned her lessons well. Or, in the words of one of the stand out tracks from her 2010 A Far-Out Place album, she has realized A Beautiful Dream. ~ Michael McDowell As seen at Power Popaholic!Laurie Biagini “A Go-Go Girl in a Modern World”The Vancouver singer is on her third album at this point, and once again she is a one woman version of The Honeys. Laurie stays retro here, with a clear 60′s Beach Boys influence, multi-tracked vocals and Phil Spector production values.
The songs are well composed, as standouts are the descriptive ”A Ride on the Train” and the surfin’ car tune, “My Little SUV” with just the right guitar by Richard Snow. She also gets some help from guitarist Fabrizio Serrecchia (from the Italian group Soundserif) on the faux-Bond theme “The Invisible Guy.” But for the most part Laurie’s vocals are center stage, and just when it starts to get monotonous, the best song emerges. “In The Eyes Of A Little Girl” is a thrilling mid-tempo look back at childhood co-written and performed with the brilliant Maxi Dunn. So if you want to return to those innocent days of AM radio pop, close your eyes and let Laurie take you back. As seen at Cabin Essence - Blog for the Web Page for Brian WilsonBest Of BiaginiLaurie Biagini is another artist who has been very prolific recently, with her third album and the third that I’ve reviewed on this blog (first two are here and here.) A Go-Go Girl In A Modern World is a clear progression from the first two albums, with a clear step-up in variety and production quality.
However, as with all music, the most important thing is the songs. Laurie has consistently hearkened back to a more innocent time in her music, and this continues with a wider palate of styles- the rockin’ title track, the slightly psychedelic One Track Mind, the 60s classic sounding Chameleon Man topped out with a brilliant instrumental break, and the chugging car song, My Little SUV. There are two interesting collaborations -Californian go-go girl Elaine McAfee Bender provided lyrics on The California Quake and there is an outstanding co-write with the brilliant Maxi Dunn on In The Eyes Of A Little Girl. The highlight for me is An Innocent Love, in my view Laurie’s best song, that really taps into that combination of lyric, melody and mood that elevates one to a higher plane. All Brian Wilson and Beach Boys fans should be supporting Laurie; you can get the album at CD Baby as well as many other places. ~ Andrew Gladwin As seen at Cashbox Canada Magazine Inc
Submitted by cashbox on Fri, 12/02/2011 - 13:13 Compact DISCovery Jaimie Vernon LAURIE BIAGINI A Go Go Girl In A Modern World - Independent Each new Laurie Biagini release is met with Christmas Day anticipation. Especially if you like Christmas on the sun-soaked, sand-filled beaches of Santa Monica in July. Her last album, ‘A Far Out Place’, married the groovy harmony and musical stylings of The Beach Boys and other California surf artists from a female perspective. ‘Go Go Girl in a Modern World’ takes the next leap with a broader range of 1960s authentic sounding AM power pop. Taken at face value it seems a rather odd musical marriage coming from an exotic Italian musician from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. But when you hear the craftsmanship in the songs, you’d swear Biagini grew up on Venice Beach and spends her days, the breeze whipping through her hair, riding the Pacific Coast Highway in her car. In fact, the song “My Little SUV” gives us a modern re-tooling of classic car songs like “Little GTO” and “Little Honda”. You just want to ride along as she throws her cares to the wind. The title track, “Go Go Girl in a Modern World”, is self-referential in that Biagini knows she’s out of step with current musical trends. Nowhere else are you going to find tips of the hat to The Ad Libs’ and the Mamas & Papas in one song – “I Ride on the Train” successfully melds the groove of “Boy From New York City” with M & P’s “Creeque Alley”. She also tips her hat to both Mamas & Papas and Lovin’ Spoonful on the baroque shuffle of “Summertime”. Biagini has a sweet pure pop vocal delivery somewhere between Karen Carpenter and Susan Jacks which fits effortlessly with the early-60’s Spectorish girl group motifs on “An Innocent Love” and “In the Eyes of a Little Girl” (co-written with Liverpudlian songstress Maxi Dunn); late ‘60s Seekers/Poppy Family sunshine pop on “The Heart of the Song”, “Chameleon Man” and “No Other Like You”; and even the Pacific Northwest psyche-garage sounds of “Head In the Sand”. Clincher track on the CD is the Johnny Rivers-meets-James Bond “Invisible Guy” which finds equal parts surf guitar riff married to Herb Alpert brass lines. It’s catchy as hell and should be put to good use as the soundtrack to any number of ‘spy’ related television or movies projects. I’d suggest ‘Chuck’ for starters. Aside from the strength of her songwriting pastiches and vocal talents, Biagini is the master of every organic instrument on the album: keyboards, electric guitar, and percussion. Cleverly, she taps many of her music friends (Maxi Dunn, Peter Hackett, Fabrizio Serrechia and Richard Snow Hattersley) – using digital technology to fly the tracks around the world – and has them contribute via virtual recording techniques; Proving that you can capture the magic of a bygone era without compromising the spirit of it in a digital setting. I’d say they don’t make albums like this anymore, but Biagini does. As seen at SEGARINI: Don't Believe a Word I Say by Frank Gutch Jr. Laurie Biagini/A Go-Go Girl In a Modern World— From the liner notes on the track A Go-Go Girl in a Modern World: “Ever feel like you were born in the wrong decade, when all your tastes and interests are from a different era?” Man, can I relate to that. I always related to the early part of the 1900s, having been born not long after WWII, and my father said he wanted to be a cowboy. Maybe it is inherent in us all. For Laurie Biagini, it is the sixties mostly, and the sand and surf scene. It is surf and sand and girl groups and California, though she lives in Vancouver B.C. It is up sunshine pop and Beach Boy harmonies and innocence. I remember diving into the surf with A Far-Out Place and wondering what she was doing in the Pac Northwest. This kind of stuff needs sunshine! Three albums in and she’s doin’ fine— she even updated the 409 to SUV status!
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