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Written by Laura Hamlett Friday, 01 July 2005 18:00

The groove factor goes up a couple notches with “Charlatan,” an addictive sleeper that insinuates itself further into your subconscious each time it’s played.

Gooding is ready for the show. After seven self-recorded, self-produced, and self-released albums, this guitar virtuoso has found the perfect blend of unique and innovative meets accessible and radio-friendly. One listen to Angel/Devil is all it takes: With this release, Gooding’s in a whole new league.

At least half of the disc’s 13 songs could be radio singles; notable are “Little America,” “Free,” “Everything or Nothing Again,” and “Come Undone.” “Little America” opens the disc with an inventive and skillful display of Gooding’s guitar prowess; slowly, cymbals, drums, and backing vocals enter the mix before Gooding sings about his homeland’s new status as global bully. “We’re not so little anymore,” he proclaims, referring to we in the United States as “your drunken friends/who always stay too late.” In “Free,” Gooding again pushes himself vocally, hitting some lovely falsettos as he explores what it means “to make our simple minds free.” It’s another exercise in creative strumming—as, let’s face it, most Gooding offerings are; you can’t help but shake your head in amazement at the sounds this man is able to coax out of a six-string.

“Everything or Nothing Again” enjoys a more laid-back groove, which seems perfect against the backdrop of summer: Gooding on the stereo, feet tapping on the wooden porch, sweating glass firmly in hand. On “Harm’s Way,” Gooding revisits the war. His licks are stripped down, strings carefully picked as he sings in a fittingly low voice. The groove factor goes up a couple notches with “Charlatan,” an addictive sleeper that insinuates itself further into your subconscious each time it’s played. Unlike past releases, Angel/Devil has but one instrumental track—“Living in a Land of Make Believe”—and it’s short, sweet, and a good midpoint; the requisite overdub finds a man proclaiming via singsong, “I’m living in the land of make-believe and I have no freedom.” Further vocal talents await the listener with “Goldenboy”—in Gooding’s words, a song about “a spoiled and toxic boy who may be either god or the devil.” “Show yourself,” Gooding taunts the boy, followed by a wicked chuckle—trust me, it’s priceless. The guitar will have you shaking it, the tasty vocals convey a range of emotions, and the creative, abrupt end is just perfect.

“I alone can find your center/I alone can shake you down/I alone can numb your senses/I alone can drown the sounds/Of your hopes. Of your spark. Of your saviors.” So begins “Judas,” a song about self-doubt and the damage it can inflict—something to which all of us, songwriters and scientists and salespeople alike, can relate. More creative strumming kicks off the album’s sole love song; with his unique spin on everything (love included), Gooding invites, “So roll up your sleeves and just dig into madness with me.” “Come Undone” is an epic, soaring number; in the stunningly beautiful refrain, Gooding gives voice to his dream of a perfect world: “If you could just wait ’til morning/To slip away/You could just leave without warning/And come back when the world’s okay.” We have no choice but to believe him; with songs as universal and true as this one, we know it will all work out: the world’s relations, human nature, even this man’s music career. It’s just around the corner, and it’s all going to be brilliant. www.goodingband.com