CD Review 'Mistaken' a melting pot of good music By Chuck Ginsberg spotlight@seacoastonline.com Mistaken AMR Absolutely Marvelous Records(2002) "Mistaken" is Ted Sink's first CD after a lifetime mingling with music of all shapes and sizes. He has misspent a significant chunk of that time content to play a supporting role in various minor local rock bands. Still waters run deep, the old saw goes, and Sink was all the while quietly absorbing good music and secretly writing songs that never made it past the figurative concert stage of his living room. "Mistaken's" 12 many splendored cuts reflect that love of music, whether it be Latin jazz, blues, country, pop, gospel or the big-band sound of Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. A childhood isn't completely wasted when you grow up with the big-band sound. We may have missed one but if you have a favorite musical genre, it's probably there. (No rappers need apply.) Sometimes the humor is broad, sometimes black, and heartache outweighs heaven when it comes to romantic love, but each cut shares two characteristics: Sink is attentive to the nuances of melody and his lyrics are thoughtful, traits alien to much of today's Top 40; the music, too, is never overpowered, always given equal billing with the vocals. Sink is lead vocalist on the album and shares harmony vocal chores with well-known local musicians Carri Coltane ("wonderful"), Andy Happel (everyone's favorite engineer also plays violin and cello) and Portsmouth gospel queen Lesley Preece Decato. Coltrane was perfect from the start, Sink marvels, hitting the mark from the very first time she sang a note of his songs. We were co-opted from the first two cuts, the smooth and jazzy "Talk to Me" and the bluesy "Just Another Jim." We parted company with the songwriter on the antecedents of the pithy and anguished "Midnight Angel," which made us think immediately of America's "Horse with No Name." Sink sees no connection and, by the way, is not an America fan and hates the song. OK, it's the "Horse" with a country kick, but it was in our top three on the album (there are no clunkers). "Believer" is a softer, country-style love song, and a brief departure from heartache. He is a breathless voyeur in the first flush of infatuation. The twang harkens this ole Virginia boy back to real country, not today's corrupted pap in tight Levis. (Faith Hill, take note.) The title cut is a breathy, lament of love gone wrong, of a mismatch of the heart, oblivious to him, obvious to everyone else. The harmonies and vocals are gorgeous and wrenching, but the story is told in melody as well as lyrics. Another favorite. "Replaceable" mines the same story line, but in the Tony Bennett vocal stylist ball park. Part of what makes this album special is its ability to switch gears from song to song. Break out the kindling, dim the lights and chill the fruit of the vine. You old romantic, you. Fresh from a trip to the dismaying Disney World atmosphere of Cleveland's schlocky Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, Sink penned the softly rockin' and blackly humorous "Elvis' Underpants" on the plane. The line "You built a great shrine to the King's BVDs" sums it up for the "glass and steel menagerie" on the lake. Country gospel is next on the menu. "Gospel" is fundamentalist heaven from the prayer meeting, although we missed the earthy urgency we used to hear on similar songs, way back when, on "Connie B. Gay's Town and Country Time" radio show from Uline Arena in Washington, D.C. Texas Tyler's "Deck of Cards," for example, really grabs your Adam's apple and squeezes the life out of it. "Thin Air" brings back the heartache, and, perhaps a clue to Sink's problem. True love is more than fantasy, more than the "prince and princess ... dancing." "Thin Air" is love in a pop vein not country twang. We must confess that Sink had to set the context for us for "Already Dead." The shrink, after examining the narrator's head, tells him he is already dead. More black humor as he vainly seeks absolution and rebirth, citing the cases of Lazarus and Jesus. Pay attention to the lyrics, the pop melody is secondary. "Broken Promises" is the wreckage of another romance gone wrong and the detritus it leaves behind. It is a blast from the past, a song stylist's delight, if he or she has the talent and the touch. The great dance beat might swing your romance into the right lane. Listen closely to the growl in the background. Sink's canine is an uncredited harmonizer, and, we understand, also won the recording session attendance award. Nice bass. "Run to You" has a definite gospel flavor and Sink's female harmonizers shine here. We love this song and the feeling emanating from it. This is the real thing. Ted Sink's back-up role changed several years ago when he began studying with another fine local musician, Kent Allyn, bassist on "Mistaken." Returning from a trip armed with two new songs, Sink showed them to Allyn, who liked them and encouraged him. The recording project, two years in the making, gained impetus. Sink's father was a professional musician and father of 12, which explains why he became a chemist to make a living. Sink Sr. discouraged his brood from musicianship because he disliked the lifestyle, but Ted has never fallen far from the tree. A writer in real life, he is also currently guitarist and bassist with Baseline, a local quintet. Liking the results of his first commercial effort, Ted Sink is already at work on material for a second release. If you like good music, pick up "Mistaken" at your local music outlet. And, if "Mistaken" is any indication of what Ted Sink has kept bottled up inside for decades, we look forward to more. Portsmouth Herald Entertainment News: CD Review: 'Mistaken' a melting pot of good music http://www.seacoastonline.com/calendar/11_21review.htm (2 of 3) [12/19/2002 7:10:08 AM]. Personal Bio The second oldest in a Catholic family of 12 children, I grew up in NYC, a suburb of Boston and Manchester NH. My musical tastes and influences are eclectic. I sing in a classical choral group that performs Mozart, Haydn and Bach. I love the precision and direct emotional kick of country music. I love the harmonic dissonance of jazz. I love Latin rhythms. I love folk music, and the classic torch songs and jazz ballads of the 40’s and 50’s. I love the Stones and the Eagles, the Beach Boys, Steely Dan, Charlie Mingus, Monk, Sheryl Crow, Shaun Colvin and I’m getting tired of trying to remember names. I bought a Silvertone guitar from the Sears catalog when I was a sophomore in high school, and kept it at a friend’s house where I learned to play songs by Elvis, Duane Eddy and The Kingston Trio. In the Navy, I taught myself jazz chords from books and by listening to Charlie Byrd records. I even performed some in a Norfolk, VA coffee house with a bass player. I couldn’t read music, had a weak singing voice, and wasn’t much of a player. But I loved doing it. I started recording music and writing seriously in 2000. I knew nothing about the process but jumped in and learned by doing. Along the way I received a lot of help from great players and teachers. Most of the songs on these CDs (Superette and Mistaken) are love songs based on either specific or general experiences. I had my first girlfriend at age 17 in mind when I wrote “Just Another Jim.” Both of my ex-wives are represented. Some songs are about very brief but important relationships from the late 80s and early 90s. “Midnight Angel” is about a relationship I was tempted by but managed to avoid by the skin of my teeth. And most of the later material is about a significant long-term relationship that survived a number of tragedies but finally tanked in a paroxysm of despair and heartache â€" mine, not hers. See “Twilight Zone.” There are a few non-love songs too. “Elvis’s Underpants” is about a visit to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. “Already Dead” is a black humor look at spiritual disenfranchisement. “Bitter Teardrops” is my reaction to the crusade-like wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Suspicion” is about jealousy in the abstract. “Gospel” is about that. I like all the music on these albums, but if I had to pick representative favorites they would be “Superette” (Superette #1â€" alt country, tells a true story); “Twilight Zone” (Superette #5 â€" jazz ballad/ heartache love song); “One Last Time” (Superette #3 â€" alt country love song, tells a story); “Another Heartache Country Song" (Superette #6 â€" classic Nashville country & western, tells a story); “Run To You” (Mistaken #12 â€" a gospel/torch love song); “Talk To me” (Mistaken #1 â€" a Latin jazz love song; and “Just Another Jim” (Mistaken #2 â€" Steely Dan influenced blues pop, tells an allegorical story). If I had to do it all over again, I would make “Run To You” the title cut of my first album.