The Gabe Dixon Band

On A Rolling Ball

Reprise Records

We all have dreams, some more special than others. Gabe Dixon had a dream. He dreamt of one day making music which would blow open the market of guitar-less pop/rock bands, being monopolized in 1999 by Ben Folds Five. Dixon rounded up a saxophonist, bass player and drummer, forming The Gabe Dixon Band. On A Rolling Ball, their major label debut, presents a cohesive four-piece act with little to say musically or lyrically.

The uneven album sounds like the band is moving in too many directions. If they found a certain style, like the jazz of "Bird Dancer" or the up-tempo "More Than It Would Seem" and stuck with it, they might be able to put out an album that didn't wander all over. Rolling Ball is a testament to their ablity to experiment with so many styles and come out with fourteen listenable tracks; but listenable is all that the album is.

Heavy influences from Stevie Wonder ("Everything's Okay") and Elton John ("Corner Cafe") are easily heard. On a whole, the 14 tracks are mellow, at times leaning more towards Kenny G than pop music. Dixon is a talented keyboardist and he tests a range of effects from a synthesized sound to grand piano. Vocally though he lacks. His voice is not suited for the type of music he's singing. It's not smooth enough and sticks out from the music like a thumb, the sore kind that you want to ignore. Lyrically, Dixon tackles the previously unexplored area of relationships, speaking vaguely of women he has known. He breaks away once, however, on "One to the World" to question man's purpose in modern society, which he does with a plethora of badly rhymed lines. Something always seems to be off on a song, whether it's the heavy presence of the saxophone, or Dixon's use of falsetto when he should have stayed low.

You may find a few tracks to listen to again, but it is doubtful that you'll find any lasting value in this album. They just fail to be musically catchy or lyrically interesting. With a bit more focus and direction, The Gabe Dixon Band may be able to preserve the enjoyable pop of songs like "Expiration Date" or the impressive piano work on "Love Story" and duplicate that for an album that's not so forgettable.