Music Review // Wayne Merdinger "Hidden Gems"

https://open.spotify.com/album/2LzDsZWKJRWNCkvP2QIdBZ?si=kKt_YGi6QberpBxRg0tfyA&nd=1

The music of Wayne Merdinger can be described as easy listening or light rock, but it's catchy and so I don't think it is quite fair to put into these genres that aren't always as melodic.  For some reason, throughout this album I also just continue to think about the soundtrack to "The Lion King", so take that for what it's worth.

"American Dream" has big pianos and is about exactly what the title states.  I really enjoy the "Times Are Changing" song on this album- it is my favorite- and on "Don't Even Think It'd Be Alright" there is an almost country/folk tone.   Overall this album just feels mellow though, even as organ tones come in on "Stranger".

Lyrically there are moments on this album that will really make you think.  The song "Lose To Gain" has the lines: "Wherever there is pleasure / there is pain" and if you don't think that is true then you don't understand life because without one how would we know the other?  It's weird how the two have to exist together, but yet they do.  

In many ways though, Wayne Merdinger just feels like someone sitting in a rocking chair on their porch during a hot summer day, telling stories about simpler times.  This album certainly seems to wax nostalgic a bit and they were called "the good old days" for a reason.  If you're too young, you might not get this one now, but one day you will.