Joe Kennedy's Van Cortlandt Park is an impressive debut album chock full of lush, sunshiney pop. Put his cd on, close your eyes, and you can imagine yourself driving along the Pacific Coast Highway with the top down and the AM radio on, circa 1973. So it's no surprise that Kennedy hails from Los Angeles, although he grew up in another sun-kissed area, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Joe's steady gig has been as a sideman for Pete Yorn, and he's about to head out on tour with him again.
Van Cortlandt Park should appeal to fans of Brian Wilson, Burt Bacharach, and a couple of other artists who put out similar albums last year: B.C. Camplight and Dave Dill. There isn't a bad track on the disc, but my particular favorites are "Remember Me" and "11.11".
The cd has only been released in the UK (I was fortunate to have a friend over there send me a copy), and can be sampled at his UK label page. Joe plans on releasing it in the US soon, perhaps through CD Baby, and is working on making it available via iTunes. Of course you can buy through an online UK retailer, but if you don't want to spend the $20 USD it'll probably end up costing, Joe has advised me that if you drop him an email, he can send you a copy in the US at a much more reasonable price.
He's also working on a new album, and from the two tracks he's put on his myspace page, it might end up being even better than this one. "Slow Down", in particular, is nothing short of brilliant, the kind of song I could listen to all day. And so can you, as I'm making it my song of the day, so just click here to have it immediately stream.
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