| Category | Rating |
|---|---|
| Track Structure | 8 |
| Interest | 8 |
| Melody | 8 |
| Performance | 9 |
| Lyrics | 7 |
| Enjoyment | 8 |
| Recording Quality | 9 |
| Commercial Appeal | 5 |
| Overall | 7.8 |
Use Your Noodle by Ricky Mancini AKA MD-1 Project (Jesterfell)
Anyone who has read one of my reviews will already know that I have a huge fascination with words and this one will be no exception.
This is the first time I’ve reviewed Ricky Mancini AKA MD-1 Project (Jesterfell) and, having typed out his performing name I feel that I’m already halfway to completing itJ.
Anyway, I did what I always do when faced with a new artist – find out what the name means! Well, I had no luck with Jesterfell but Mancini was more rewarding as I discovered that it comes from the Italian for “left-handed”. Now, I have no idea whether Ricky is left-handed or not but I do know that, throughout the ages, man has been fascinated by what hand people use, so much so that our language is rich with examples of it.
For example, the Latin for right “dexter” gives us “dextrous” meaning mental or physical agility whereas the Latin for left is “sinister” and we all know what that means. Turning to French we have “droit” for right (which is where we get “adroit”) from and “gauche” for left. Again it is clear that left-handedness comes out worse.
And if you can use both hands equally well you are called “ambidextrous” which means that you’ve got two right hands! And it gets worse. Christ, according to the Bible, sits at the right hand of the Lord. When you go to court you raise your right hand.
On the other hand (geddit!!) the only word from the Basque language (which is completely different from any other language on earth and is thought to be the only surviving example of a very old language) is “izquierdo” which Spanish scholars among you will recognise as the word for “left”. Why this should be, nobody knows.
But enough of my perambulations through the etymological maze, let’s move on to the track.
And something of a curiosity it is too! On first hearing, I was convinced it was a protest “song”, containing as it does a quite contentious sound track relating to the war in
And that, in a way, is where my difficulty with the track lies. For me, a good protest song should major on the words, with the music there to support the words as unobtrusively as possible. And that is kind of hard when there is some exemplary guitar playing going on (which Ricky makes clear is him and not some previously acquired sample) and I find that they are both competing for my attention. Not in a bad way, you understand because just about all the elements in this track are of a very high quality, they just don't, for me, sit comfortably well together (and I'm aware that may well have been the effect that Ricky was after.
What is clear about the track is that it was put together by an accomplished musician. There is nothing sinister or gauche about the musicianship at all. In fact, the dexterity of the guitar playing and the adroit manner in which the whole piece was mixed suggests that we will be hearing plenty more from this particular member of MP3Unsigned (not to mention his willingness to say what he thinks on the message boards). J
To listen to the track Click Here