Steve Lieberman – Jewish Pirate

Steve Lieberman – Jewish Pirate / 2006 Self / 26 Tracks / http://www.gangstarabbi.com / Reviewed 05 August 2006

Let’s see if this album is going to break it big for Lieberman. This time, the album is full of covers. In fact, there is a good cause for this album; all the proceeds go to the North Shore Animal League. So, regardless of what I think of this album, you should at least pick up a copy to support that animal shelter. Now, I suppose some words about the disc would be good. The immediate positive that I can hear in Lieberman’s “Jewish Pirate” is that Lieberman’s rendition of each of the 26 tracks gives me some idea of what the original sounded like. For example, I have only heard the originals of 7 of the 26 tracks; I want to hear the original of “Shelter From The Storm” now since Lieberman did it.

In fact, that track is much more restrained than pretty much anything that Lieberman has committed to disc. What I think is that the structure of the original tracks provides a set of boundaries for Lieberman, and the ending result is something that is much more fulfilling for those individuals that might not normally “get” what Lieberman is doing with eir albums. I usually dig on Lieberman with each of the albums that ey sends me, but this time I really can’t find much in the way of faults. The flute, which was the bane of my existence through quite a few of these albums, has been muted to a degree that allows it to interact with the rest of the instruments on an equal level. The fuzz is something that is slapped on a little heavy during “Jewish Pirate”, but is not at a level where it overwhelms the track.

Still, I would like to hear Lieberman remove this very fakey distortion and see exactly how eir guitar work sounds. There are still some things that need to be ironed out with Lieberman, but if there is a level of restraint on the next batch of originals as there is during “Jewish Pirate”, I know that the results will render the best Lieberman album yet. Still, pick up a copy of this album and hear a number of songs both famous and not being covered by the Gangsta Rabbi. The results are pretty strong for a cover album and shows a new side to Lieberman that I hope will be explored in future recordings.

Top Tracks: Devil’s Dancefloor, Shelter From The Storm

Rating: 6.3/10

[JMcQ]