Review Text
Some Reviews and a Conversation about the songs ****************************************************************** PERFECT OBLIVIOUS MOON - 1999 Pat Maloney writes great poetry that happens to be set to music. He graces his words with infectious melodies and a performance that conveys them to the listener on a silver platter. It's surprising to come across someone of Maloney's talent who is not on a major independent label. Maloney's songs refute all the negative criticisms of contemporary singer-songwriters. ...Unlike so many releases, "Perfect Oblivious Moon" fills the CD with almost an hour of memorable music...Maloney excels in fresh imagery and metaphor, creating a flow of fascinating words that build three-dimensional scenes within each song...Every song contains an image or a series of lines that jump off the CD and embed themselves in your mind...Maloney sings with a voice that might be compared to early John Prine after voice lessons...Welcome Pat Maloney to the pantheon of first-rate songwriters." Rich Warren, SingOut! 7/99 ######################### This is a wonderful collection of songs by Arizona singer-songwriter Pat Maloney, full of bittersweet emotion and startlingly vivid images. Every song overflows with phrases that jump up and grab you with their originality, wit and truth. He makes masterful use of song forms as well, skillfully managing internal rhymes and thematic repetition to make his words sink in even deeper. Maloney's voice is reminiscent of John Prine's: rough-hewn, twangy, and visceral; and he sings with a deceptively simple approach that remains sensitive to the subtle nuances of each song. The country-bluegrass arrangements are similiarily simple and tasteful. Highly recommended. Richard Middleton Victory Music Review ######################################## "Now based in Dewey, Arizona, Maloney has just released his third recording, "Perfect Oblivious Moon." Like it's two predecessors, the new CD is full of great songs, inspired singing, and beautiful, understated accompaniment. It would be hard to over-estimate Maloney's talent. He's a rarity; in a world of striving wordslingers, Pat Maloney is a natural songwriter. His words and melodies co-exist side by side; They're inextricably bound - They share the same heart." Chuck Cuminale City Newspaper The Songs: Perfect Oblivious Moon -I carried the idea of this song around with me for a few years. I loved the idea so much that I was afraid to approach it. I came across a poem by Ezra Pound about the 12th century poet Li Po. One night Li Po was drunk and he saw the moon reflecting on the water and it was so beautiful that he fell in love with it and in trying to embrace the reflection he fell in the water and drowned. What a wonderful analogy for being a poet. Then I began thinking about the many ways that man thinks of the moon; as a thing of romance, as a thing that is worshipped, as a source of lunacy, as a thing that is prayed to and stared at and questioned and marveled at, as a poet's touchstone. And all the time the moon just hangs there - never acknowledging us in the least. Sort of like God. Down To The River On A Fine Brown Horse-As a boy, one of my favorite things to do was sit on our front porch (which had a red tin roof) during a thunder storm. I just loved the way the wind and the thunder and lightning raged and the water poured down and the muddy water filled the ditches and twisted and boiled. I felt like I was removed from the humdrum day and transported to some special place. So this song attempts to give vision to this feeling in the form of a beautiful, strong horse dashing through a rainstorm with me on his back, taking me to some other place, escaping from the prison of the mundane. These Hard Times- I think if I had to pick one of my songs to stand for me, this would be the one. Stephen Foster has a song called, "Hard Times" and in it he calls out to the listener to think of the poor and the unfortunate and the careworn while
