WAZ ~ "THE SWEET BYE AND BYE"

LOVE UNFLICHING ACCURATE

"There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread."
~ Mother Teresa

"Don't get it right, just get it written"
~ James Thurber (American Writer, 1894-1961)

"We shall sing on that beautiful shore
The melodious songs of the blessed…
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore…"
~ Sanford F. Bennett from "In The Sweet By and By" (1868)



There are a lot of albums soul and otherwise saying all the world is what they feel, river deep mountain high, and all that stuff no real relationship sustains with kids asleep in the other room. Then there's Waz. If you carefully listen together at home at night at the end of a long day, the conversation the two of you have will take a quiet tone. We are all honest as the day is long in a relationship, but this Waz can pull the covers on the best of us with keenly observed moments in a relationship just like the one you are in, and the one you left, and the one you are about to start.

It's good to know a song can be written that tells it right, with the changing meaning of all the repetitions, how we never mean the same thing in those repeats, and the rhythm of honest speech how it can't be resisted without paying a cynical price. The quiet observations in "The Sweet Bye and Bye" are affirmations of love. The act of writing is an affirmation of life, and there's no point being this accurate about the goodbyes if love were not worth everything. These songs get richer listening time and time again.

Waz is not a secret. The musicians on this album are responsible for some of the finest music in Los Angeles, one and all. You know a guy by the company he keeps, and this guy keeps good company. I'm just jumping on the bandwagon. Yep, I see it too. There's something open handed, open hearted, and sweetly honest about these songs. I'm struck with the honesty in the leaving, the love that lingers, and the warmth in such an intelligent writer. I think I grew up a little listening to this young man. Listening through the album with the woman I love, we got quiet. It was a fine evening. We held each other. He was accurate about so many things.

THE SONGS:



1. HARDLY ENOUGH marks a return to first principles after the move to Tinseltown. Waz longs for midwestern skylines. "This town can be so ugly / Makes you feel so ordinary," may be an astute observation from the perspective of an LA musician, where even the very talented get lost in the uniformity of very good in a town searching for sensational. "Hardly enough for all the trouble / Hardly enough to get it right." "Feeling ordinary" is a let down after the promise of a move to the 50 minute CD release sandwiched between two other bands. The attenuated hour is enough for a therapist, but it's hardly enough. Please come back to Cleveland, Waz.




2. HOME is my song of the week. I just made a move across country from Los Angeles to Cincinnati for love. I found what I was looking for here. It was a good move. And yet, there are things I'm missing. What I found was a home. "Settling down makes you feel like there's no way out." I hadn't admitted that. "Somebody gave you the weight of the world / And made you believe that that's all that there was." Check. I feel that too. "But baby I think that the things that you / Need are right here / Here at home." That too was accurate. I don't know another song that says it better. I'm moved by this song. "[M]aybe the things that you think that you need / Are right here……here at home." Love is changing you.




3. MINE TO REMEMBER mines that first moment when the joy of being known "deep inside" gives voice to the fateful need for "space and time." "You weren't the first but you'll be the last / To see inside and something suddenly changed / Inside of me." Once again, Waz says what is necessary, and this band plays it simple just right. The piano is perfect, note after note, played with one hand, and as simple as a heartbeat. The one who is lost to "space and time" has left a shadow in the shape of a memory. "You are mine to remember."




4. WHY CAN'T WE cuts to core with the opening line: "Son you'll see that it's better off if I leave / 'Cause your mother and I can't see / Eye to eye on anything." With three elements and repeated phrases, Waz strikes like a diamond cutter into this departure. "Why can't we stay in love like the first time?" The pain of this sweet bye and bye is in the collateral damage. "It's time that changes everything…" but what has changed? "It is something that breaks in your heart / Or is it something in your head?" Answer: "It's just something in your head." This is a song about love, time, and loss. "Son you'll see that it's better off if I leave." Perhaps in time. It's time that changes everything.




5. SHE'S GONE is the song of the presence of an absence. "Those were golden years and you were the one," but this is the moment that begins the loss. "'Cause I just saw her for the first time in a dream / And you ask me am I coming back to bed." Waz celebrates in this song the "golden years" when "you were the one," but "Nobody [will] tell you when or why it goes away / I'm sorry baby I'm so sorry baby / But there will always be somebody else / And she's gone." What? She's gone? And yet "I can feel her breath on me." Oh, that's not good.




6. MARIA has been damaged by "broken glass and the back of a hand." The devastation of "second hand lovers have torn [her] pride." There is healing in this waltz. "Oh Maria I can't see ya / Oh Maria / I don't think this world could keep / spinning without you." Hope there is time to heal.




7. SLEEP IN THE DAY accurately describes the wearying search and rhythm of a nightclub life. "Another night in the dark rooms of building blocks and bottles / Where we sit on stools and stare with bloodshot eyes." Waz writes songs that are best not acted on in all their honesty. Wouldn't advise "callin' you 'cause there's no one new." Well, sing this song but don't make that call. "There's something here that separates…" may be the line best describes the night life, "and we sleep during the day / Comin' down no other way / Habits hard too hard to break." All I can say is it sounds right.




8. HOLDING ON has a strident tone, a raw sound, and a bruising opener. "He believes in the end / And begins to forget / All the life in between," and Waz observes "Sons and daughters would forgive / Severed ties." The pain is played straight by this fine band, though the song is sung sweetly between the waves of pain. "Strip the thread / Thin the blood / To start again." Waz is a master of the repeated line. This song it's "And we fight for the love we deserve." Danny Delamatyr plays the pain on six strings with all the passion it requires. This quiet song is raw and just right.




9. RELEASE builds tension in every line with one word to break the unrelenting power of uncertainty: "Release." The story of a mother letting go of her son with the fear "something deeper" than we normally care to know. "And everyone is wondering about / tomorrow." The feeling of possible apocalypse fills the future, but Waz and this band make sweet gospel out of the one warm word: "Release." This is a waltz to the uncertain future. "The city grows tired / And you forget your own name / When habits collide" but there is one word to calm the sea of sorrows when "everyone's still wondering about / tomorrow." This is a gospel tune. The good news… "release." That's all we got. We'll understand it better by and by. Let that go.


Waz ~ vocals, acoustic guitar, high string, harmonica
Danny Delamatyr ~ electric and acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Will Golden ~ bass, piano, moog, high string, vibes, organ
Malcom Cross ~ drums and percussion
Al Sgro ~ percussion, piano, organ
Joe Kennedy ~ piano, organ
Fil Krohnengold ~ chamberlin, piano
Oliver Krauss ~ cello
Jason Kanakis ~ bass
Ed Maxwell ~ upright bass
Deacon ~ additional percussion

All Songs written by Waz

Produced and mixed by Will Golden, Al Sgro and Waz
Engineered by Will Golden and Al Sgro
Additional Mixing by Ed Maxwell
Mastered by SAE Mastering (Phoenix)

Cover Art Design by Justin Genovese
Additional Design by Matthew Harris
Cover Photo by Bryan Koss
Inside Photo by Jim Wright

wazmusic.com
myspace.com/waz

(C) & (P) 2008 Sweet Bye and Bye (ASCAP)
All rights administered worldwide by Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

LYRICS