On his second studio album,
Tragic Hero,
Jason Yudoff, a virtuoso keyboard player with an expressive tenor voice, creates a song cycle out of music highly reminiscent of 1970s soul, funk, and fusion styles. Philadelphia blue-eyed soul stylists like
Todd Rundgren and
Hall & Oates come to mind as he moves from one percussive, keyboard-based song to another, performing in an attractive if familiar and derivative pop/rock vein laced with involved keyboard solos. The two words of the title probably should have "Romantic" in between them, because
Tragic Hero has a story to tell, and it's one as familiar as the music. In the lyrics, a first-person narrator, addressing himself almost exclusively to a second-person partner, traces the ups and downs of a relationship that starts out troubled, if promising, but goes downhill. By the fourth song, "Side by Side," the singer even suggests that the woman to whom he is singing may become his wife, but after a couple more songs a separation takes place. On the bluesy "One More Try," she comes crawling back, but he is unwilling to agree. It's "Too Late Janie," as the mostly third-person ninth song puts it, even though in the piano ballad "5 More Minutes" that follows and is the last of the tracks with lyrics, he is regretful. It is only in that track that the lyrics have enough specificity to get beyond the generic; for the most part, the words are cliché-ridden, which robs the age-old plot of impact. It may be better to ignore them and concentrate more on the feeling with which
Yudoff sings and the technique he displays as a musician. ~ William Ruhlmann