Someone asked about this a few weeks back. Taken from this week's Philadelphia Weekly at: http://www.phillyweekly.com/weekly98/ae/artbeat.html F E B R U A R Y 3 - F E B R U A R Y 2 7 , 1 9 9 9 Artsbeat: Local Musicians Experience Power-Outage The idea was simple and not particularly original: assemble some of Philadelphia's most talented songwriters, yank the chords on their axes and let them have at it. But Neil Drucker, CEO of the Bala Cynwyd-based Record Cellar label, is proud to claim the premise as his own. And his musician pals were more than happy to oblige his whim, responding with some of the most intimate, playful and outright weird music of their careers. Dave Bielanko (Marah), Mike Brenner (The Low Road, John Train), Frank Brown (Flight of Mavis, Buzz Zeemer), Richard Kaufmann (Electric Love Muffin, Rolling Hayseeds) and Gerry McGoldrick (Napalm Sunday, Emily Valentine) donated three songs each to the 15-song No Electric Guitars CD. Highlights include Bielanko's riveting, claustrophobic "Long Hot Summer" and wry, romping interpretation of Bruce Springsteen's "Streets of Philadelphia," as well as Brenner's surprisingly true-to-the-original version of "Pet Sounds." In no way is the collection's overall format solely acoustic, but the low-key implications are evident -- if not always dominant. "It's just a hook," says Drucker of the unplugged slant. "All of the tracks are independent; the guys don't play with each other. [The idea was] to get them out there in between band projects." No Electric Guitars is in stores this week, with an official CD release party slated for March 6 at the Pontiac Grille. -- Hobart Rowland
