Michael Barclay, Kitchener-Waterloo Record (Kitchener, Cambridge,Waterloo, Guleph) 05/15/03

ALBUM REVIEWS

K-W's Rob Szabo shines on solo effort

ROB SZABO-A Battery of Tests (Basement Bar)

    Rob Szabo has built most of his career rocking out, whether it was with the Groove Daddys, Marigold or Plasticine.  While the latter band is now on hiatus, Szabo says he decided to be a 'control freak' for a change and release his first solo album.

    For anyone who fell in love with Plasticine's melancholic side, A Battery of Tests is a huge treat.   Szabo tackles most of the instruments himself, and his home recording sounds just as huge as any of his previous bands, even though the main focus is usually just an acoustic guitar and voice.

    Much of the album is delicate downbeat rainy day music, like the ironically titled Life of the Party.  But the album's most striking moment is I Live for the Summer, which unfolds beautifully before the positively stirring chorus, where Szabo's voice soars atop a chiming 12-string guitar riff.

    The fact that Szabo is a gifted musician has never been in question, but A Battery of Tests is easily his finest songwriting to date, placing him in good stead alongside post Beatlemaniacs like Elliot Smith and Crowded House's Neil Finn.  In what's shaping up to be a banner year for K-W musicians, Szabo has just made the album of his career, and hopefully some of the spotlight is left over to shine on him.

   Rob Szabo's CD release party is tonight at Kitchener's registry Theatre.  Bassist Steve Barber and Szabo's Plasticine bandmates Steve Strongman and Roger Travassos are backing him up and Shannon Lyon opens.