John Schlitt

Sometimes it all boils down to personal taste. Pop music has a history full of voices that people tend to love or hate: or, if you like (at the risk of sounding somewhat condescending), there are those who just get it and those who don’t get it. Joe Cocker, Ray Charles, Dylan… acquired tastes, to one degree or another. The same can be said of John Schlitt, whose signature rock vocal style will either grab you right away, or get filed under ‘mid-seventies/eighties arena-rock power vocalist’ and be quickly dismissed. To do the latter would be a shame because, even though Schlitt’s fiery rock tenor might evoke another era, his latest solo project manages to sensibly use elements of classic-arena rock, the efficiency of modern pop, solid songwriting and production, and top-notch musicians to produce a project that straddles several eras but is slave to none.

The good news for those who have enjoyed Schlitt’s unmistakable vocal sound and phrasing from his days as lead singer of both the mainstream band, Head East, and the iconic Christian band, Petra, is that the man’s still got the pipes. Backed up by some very impressive musicians headed up by his son-in-law, Dan Needham (not that there’s anything wrong with that), Schlitt shows that he hasn’t lost his range or power, and now adds some excellent harmony parts to make things more vocally interesting.

It’s true that the ideal target audience for The Grafting might be a little older than the average Death Cab For Cutie fan – as a matter of fact, it probably helps if you were at least around when The Beatles were releasing those big, round black things with the hole in the center that we used to call records – but good songs still work for people of any age, and there are some very good songs here. Bona-fide hit maker Mark Heimermann is co-writer of “Your Eyes,” and wrote the music for the album’s Beatles-influenced opener, the instantly-accessible pop-rocker, “Stand.” The third track is the first of the project’s big rock ballads, “Men,” a song that highlights not only Schlitt’s vocal skill, but Needham’s abilities as a solid songwriter and instrumentalist (drums, keys, programming, vocals, etc.): also featured on the track is an example of the typically strong guitar work found throughout the album, in this case provided by the great Jerry McPherson, and sure-footed, emotional bass playing by Joey Canaday (Mark Hill and Matt Peirson also turn in outstanding bass playing on the rest of the tracks).

On the subject of big rock ballads, it’s worth noting that the album closes with the very memorable “Carry On,” a song as motivational as it is inspirational, urging us to, “Carry on, carry on, carry on, carry on / ‘till the work has been done/ Carry on, carry on, carry on / ‘till we hear Him say, “Welcome home, faithful one!” Carry on…” The song is a heavy rock-waltz (think Joe Cocker’s version of “With a Little Help From My Friends,” or Bob Carlisle’s “Use Me”) with a strong chord-structure that builds to a wonderful emotional high point on all fronts.

Lyrically, The Grafting touches on several issues, including reaching out to those in need, unwed mothers, adoption (in the title track), and, of course, relationship to God. The spiritual content of the album isn’t guarded or couched in ‘relationship camouflage,’ but is presented in a bold, yet artful manner. Falling short of poetry, but standing well above the ‘in-your-face-love-God-or-die’ style of Christian songwriting, the lyrics here seem to come from a place of experience and wisdom, free from the spiritual bullying that sadly marks the work of less-seasoned artists all too often.

Schlitt continues to make good music that will appeal especially to those whose tastes are wide enough to embrace both classic and modern rock. Nothing cutting-edge here, but certainly solid stuff.

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