Curtis Eller

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Album Reviews

REVIEWS OF “ANOTHER NICE MESS”

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Album of the year? Another knockout review of Another Nice Mess from With Just a Hint of Mayhem! "This quirky, emotive, and vibrant album might well be one of the albums of the year for me! How about you?" Read the full review HERE

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Another Nice Mess scored five stars in Rock-n-Reel Magazine (issue 108)! “Yes, it's business as (un)usual in this ghost town of near-forgotten America, with Eller's banjo sparkling like fairground lights after the last kids have gone home, and songs that call up the sepia shades of sad boxers, tragic aerialists, and unknown faces in photographs, to tell their stories in the flickering limelight. It's the ragged end of weird Americana, polished up to shine one last glorious time in some of the most absorbing and infectious arrangements by the band to date.” -Oz Hardwick. You can order the issue directly from RnR HERE

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Another glowing review for Another Nice Mess. Thanks to Justin Veluccio and Spectrum Culture! "Eller’s eighth LP is big on ballads – and full of heart. But, at the center of it all, just as it was 20 years ago, stands Eller and his narrative-forming banjo. Must-listen material." Read the full review HERE

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thanks to Maximum Volume Music for this great review of the new American Circus album! "`Another Nice Mess” is an oddly enchanting listen with this fairly quaint and eccentric artist. This release is pretty unique but totally compelling. Rating 8.5/10" Read the full review HERE

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Another Nice Mess landed high praise from Americana UK! “You get the feeling that Curtis Eller is a truly larger-than-life character. “Another Nice Mess”, his eighth full-length album, takes you aback with the originality of its quirky, eccentric, devil-may-care lyrics. It feels as if Eller has lots to say and the need to say it." Read the full review HERE

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Whisperin’ & Hollerin’ posted a glowing review of Another Nice Mess! "The album’s 11 songs all centre around the human condition and the fragility of life in some way, with mortality being a major theme in these gritty bluesy slices of folksy Americana...it’s a blend that’s strong and dark-roasted, smoky and toasted. ‘I’ve wasted, wasted, wasted my youth’ Eller sings in a voice rich with the heavy-patina of a life lived, but delivered with a rare vibrance and audible twinkle in the eye." Read the full review HERE

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Another Nice Mess scored an 8.5 star review from Liverpool Sound & Vision! "Another Nice Mess is the harmony brought to life from the exquisite Curtis Eller’s American Circus. An album filled with compact order, the immaculate in the divine. Eller not only makes the banjo become the face, the instrument of smart persuasion in a way that few could have imagined. It is a star of its own accord, a bold and ingenious measure undertaken by a master willing, imploring other on around it to be conscious of the enormity of success." Read it HERE

A great review of Another Nice Mess from Dutch music blog, Here Comes the Flood! "Neo-vaudeville folk outfit Curtis Eller's American Circus are entertainers pur sang, seemingly relying on tried and true styles, but with plenty of twists and turns, both musically and lyrically to capture the listener's attention. There are plenty of these "what to fuck" moments, making Another Nice Mess a thrill ride that you don't want to end." Read the full review HERE

Another Nice Mess landed a glowing review from Kevin S. Petch! “Fancy spending your autumn evenings and beyond, with the likes of Laurel & Hardy, Sonny Listen, Lillian Leitzel, the legendary circus performer, and silent movie star, Fay Wray? Then you need look no further than Another Nice Mess, a brand new collection of songs from North Carolina's finest, Curtis Eller's American Circus. What you’ll immediately notice about this new album, is how superb the recording is. Every track is as clear as a bell and the band have been captured flawlessly! A truly remarkable album!” Read the full review HERE

REVIEWS OF “A POISON MELODY”

Independent Clauses named A Poison Melody as one of their top-ten albums of 2019! “How is it that A Poison Melody is so sweet? Curtis Eller’s American Circus throws down a full orchestration of his view of the world, complete with banjo and brass. Stunning seems trite when considering this politically charged statement set to music. Eller and his band create simply defiant artistry. Charged with an energy that is part of the chaos of our times, the music winds through generations of social and political struggle in a jazz-blues fusion.” Red the full list online HERE

⭐⭐⭐⭐IndyWeek gives four stars to A Poison Melody! “What might have happened if Howard Zinn had abandoned academe to update Americana styles of yesteryear with a dose of punk. About half of the ten original songs satirize a range of distinctly unrepentant characters who are blind drunk on the privileges of class, race, and wealth.” Read the full review online HERE

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Americana UK says, “This is wild stuff, the sort of thing you would stumble upon in a tent in a back field at Glastonbury, populated by outsiders making music for themselves and somehow inviting you into their glorious hedonism. It is ribald and righteous.” in their seven-star review of A Poison Melody! Read the full review online HERE

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Rebel Noise calls A Poison Melody “an achingly beautiful tune with a little explanation of the darkness to be found in any corner of one’s favourite song” in Ian Kearey’s five-star review of the new album! Read the full review online HERE

Houdini Mansion posted a rave review of A Poison Melody! “A slick presentation of sleazy, pool hall ragtime music with enough anacronistic folk trappings to bedazzle any passer by with its burlesque thrust.” Read the full review HERE

Another glowing review of A Poison Melody from Music Tap! “Eller is still painting sound-portraits of a mixed-up world where the old and the new intermingle like so many drunks at a funeral, right before the mess of it all pours right into the streets. Your mission here is clear, dear reader: join the rumpus.” Read the full review online HERE.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Five star review for A Poison Melody from Northern Sky. “The vibrancy of Eller’s engaging performances are enhanced at every step along the way by the soaring punch of Steve Cowles’ tenor sax, Danny Grewen’s trombone and Danny Abrams’ baritone sax, or Tom Merrigan’s smokey blues piano on Pay the Band, not to mention Dana Marks and Stacy Wolfson’s alluring vocals, which effectively weave the soul into all the right places.”

Read what the Spanish are saying about A Poison Melody in this great review from Barcelona’s Cabaret de Medianoche! “Pese a el cambio de instrumentación, pese al reconocible y constante banjo de Eller, y la adhesión de nuevos instrumentos, el estilo de Curtis Eller y su American Circus está siempre presente. El estilo no desaparece. Siempre sabes que estás en la buena dirección.” Read the full review online HERE.

Even the Dutch dig the new album! Here Comes the Flood posted this glowing review of A Poison Melody. “one of those extremely rare acts who can mix politics and fun and find a perfect balance between the two. Alan Lomax would have loved them…” Read the full review online HERE.

The first advance review of A Poison Melody has landed! Whisperin’ & Hollerin’ gives the record 10 stars! “This new album is the finest thing he has done so far. It’s like a series of illustrated warnings against the madness we can see right now on both sides of the North Atlantic and either side of the equator.” Read the full review online HERE.