Shredder
guitar, booming drum backbeats by Cody Upcraft and cynical lyrics are the
staples of
Time Will Tell
the rock album from
“Peace of Mind,” features some beautiful violin by
Robert Bates and it is more upbeat, as the singer – songwriter extols “Sometimes
life is good / often misunderstood,” and
it is a look for the silver lining type of a song, as Dave Stephens finds
contentment. This song grows on you the more you listen to it and Stephens sings
almost in a falsetto, while Melissa Hockenberger provides the background vocals.
The strength of the album
Time Will Tell
is Dave Stephens’ songwriting, as he leans to rock ballads, such as “Josephine,”
a tragic figure in pursuit of a film career and who ends up in the world of
pornography. The song chronicles the woman’s fall, while the singer asks “Oh
Josephine where did you go?...Where
is the girl we used to know?”
What we should point out concerning this song
is, unless you live an incredibly insular life there is nothing in the lyrics
that should offend you. In fact, one of Stephens’ that is noted on his website
as being explicit (“Mr. Wonderful”) is in fact not in the estimation of this
magazine explicit at all. Prior to reviewing this album, Dave Stephens and this
writer discussed the “explicit” notation and there is neither vulgarity, nor is
there anything that I have not heard saintly old ladies mutter once in a while.
Stephens chose to err on the side of caution and simply out of courtesy provided
the forewarning concerning one phrase.
“Dealing With The Past,” is a pretty song and
provides a good change of pace as the drumming is less prominent and therefore
the listener gets an opportunity to appreciate another of Dave Stephens’
strengths his finger work on the guitars. He plays lead, rhythm and bass on this
album. The
song begins with a very stripped down sound, just Stephens and an acoustic
guitar and it is not until about one-third of the way through the song that we
are introduced to more instrumentation. Jeff Tymoschuk contributes string
arrangements, plays the
For the song “It’s Not
A Dream,” the gravelly vocals of Dave Stephens are juxtaposed to some beautiful
violin courtesy once again of Robert Bates and half way through the song the
violin and guitars reach a crescendo.
You can listen to Dave Stephens' album Time Will Tell on his website