March 27, 2000
Shuvy
Gal Paz
Yehuda Dym is a relatively new artist who is not getting enough attention. His first album, two years ago, was a low budget offering that concentrated on guitar and synthesizer. It was an okay effort, but did not get him instant name recognition.
For this, his second album, Dym has switched producers and made use of the services of higher quality musicians such as Dani Flam, Avi Singolda, Jeff Horvitch, Ron Vered, and others. The difference is noticeable. This album makes its mark quite noticeably. The music is fresh and upbeat and the attitude is more enjoyable, while also being just restrained enough to avoid brashness.
It's really difficult to choose a favourite song on this album; they are all so good. My choice, though, would have to be Lo Shel Halom, a number that combines a liturgical passage with the fervent plea that we work toward peace among ourselves for the benefit of all people in the Jewish community. The music is a stirring ballad that evokes a call to action and improvement.
Dym makes masterful use of his background voices on some of the slower tunes, such as Libi and Darka Shel Torah, where harmonies come out perfectly. Credit for this also must go to Yonatan Hill and Jeff Horvitch for their masterful arrangements.
Mendy Wald
Koach
Gal Paz
Mendy Wald is a name that has gained plenty of attention in the North American Jewish music industry, through his first two albums. However, I found this, his third effort to be a bit disappointing. The album opens stongly enough with the title song, and does contain some excellent musical arrangements by Moshe Laufer, particularly on the Yiddish song Mein Kindt, as well as on Ani Ma'amin and Shir Lama'alos. On some of the other songs, however, Laufer's arrangments succeed only partially in saving some of Yossi Green's less impressive compositions. I find, on the whole, that Green's work is a poor match for Wald, who needs more lively songs and more powerful ballads to make an album memorable.
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