Reviews

You have a voice that's half-way between Paul Weller and Pete Townshend, and a playing style that has both sting and melancholy in equal amounts - something that's not been heard since the early days of Joe Jackson. Your album is very well sequenced and just the right length - no filler whatsoever.

It was a pleasure to listen to - thank you for sharing!

Despite wrestling some fantastic sounds out of the synthesizer, the music itself can get quite repetitive - sometimes, I'm afraid to say, annoyingly. For example, on "Rain Mack Girl", there are times when you expect the music to push forward and break out... but it doesn't. There seems to be a lot more focus on the groove rather than any melody, which is fine for minimalist music, but there were times when I felt the music was just screaming out for a good synth solo or chord change.

An excellent sound, but I'm sorry to say I didn't enjoy the music.

Listening to "Hymns About Her" really proves how screwed up the British pop charts is. Here, a pretty-boy Timberlake-wannabe can score a "fastest ever selling single" entry in the Guinness book with a song so generic and predictable, even a severely lame monkey could do better.

Luckily, there's little chance Simon Cowell has any interest in Steven Dunston. Reason: this is thinking-persons music and not a disposable cheap-thrill. Melodic and amiable enough to make it entertaining, but listening to the words and how Steven phrases them along with the piano is nothing short of breathtaking. When I reviewed "To Get Home Before Night Comes", I noticed a lot of Steely Dan & Stevie Wonder influence - yet here, I still hear those influences to a certain point, yet there is a lot of the more care-free non-political side of Jackson Browne. Me like!

The stripped down sound really suits the songs, making them intimate and warm. Again, the songs are short and numerous with faultless lyrics and melodies - it really makes you want to keep listening.

I don't use this word often, but it's a masterpiece!

Instrumental guitar rock tends to fall into two categories - you're either an eccentric genius like Steve Vai or a more substantial player like Satriani. Carlos Saura seems to be closer to the latter, but on the edge of creating a niche of his own.

His proficiency on the guitar is really commendable, but even moreso is the songwriting. Instrumental guitar albums tend to get a bit difficult if they go on too long - however, 21 minutes of high quality and consistent songwriting makes listing a pleasure. Only 2 of the albums 4 tracks are fret-shredding rock, the other two show Carlos' skill in stripping down the sound and laying down some guitar played from the heart, rather than the textbook.

In a word - bravo!