Greg Ball - Excessive Until August

Greg Ball
Excessive Until August


Excessive Until August is really a collaboration of many Kingston Musicians which includes Paul Muller, Rob Radford, Dan Curtis and Spencer Evans just to name a couple. There are still many more contributors including vocally and instrumental.

Excessive Until August which has been  released under Ching Music label which is founded and run by Paul Langlois of The Tragically Hip.

The genre of the album bounces around a little bit between Folk/Rock and a few slight hints of country. While listening to the album performed live the Rock aspect of the album really comes alive, but while listening to the recorded version of the album the folk/rock side plays out a little stronger.

The first track on the album is titled “Rumoured Occasions”, the song opens up on  a sombre note with a lightly charged vocals. Quickly a guitar is ushered in which benefit’s the vocals and provides a new slightly faster tempo for the vocals to go with. The raspy sound of Greg’s vocals really shines on the meaning of the lyrics in the song. Throughout the rest of the album the vocals give the album the brightness and elusion of the songs meaning. I was a little surprised at first that this song was placed first onto the track list, not closer to the middle and have a faster tempo song such as “Undertow” at the beginning.

The title track “Excessive Until August” follows “Rumoured Occasions”. While I interviewed Greg on the eve of his album release party he had a interesting story on how the title of the album came to be. My favourite aspect of the song is the arrangement of the song especially with the combination of Greg’s vocals, the backing vocals. The harmonica which plays throughout most of the track was a nice addition to the track especially when the harmonica plays out very lightly in the background. The drums become a huge driving force behind the song as they sometimes play out close to the same decibel as the lead vocals. Usually songs rely on the Bass guitar to become the backbone of the song but I feel in this case the use of the snare drum replaces the Bass as the backbone. Greg’s grating vocals throughout the song strives among the harmonica and rests in between the snare, harmonica and backing vocals. The extra decibel push which the vocals receives is another highlight of the song for myself.

If you enjoy songs which strive on strong harmonies then you will probably be intrigued by the song “Glutton” which is performed with the collaboration of Christina Foster on Vocals. The song has  a mellow acoustic guitar playing out in the background of the song which picks up the voids nicely between verses. The song does pick up a little extra with the addition of a lead electric guitar which is lightly picked.

Other notable songs on the album includes one of my more favourable songs on the album is “Out With A Bang”. An acoustic number where Greg’s vocals really come out over top on the instrumental aspect of the song. This song really borders along the country and Rock bridge. The backing guitars really adds the country aspect to the song but the deeper acoustics and Greg’s raspy vocals gives the song the classic rock touch to the song. With a mid tempo comparing to the other tracks on the album, I would favour this track in being the ideal song for radio play. I am mixed between the first single with “Out With A Bang” , “Undertow” and the title track “Excessive Until August”.

You can pick up your copy of Excessive Until August by visiting Greg website at http://www.GregBall.ca/