Paul Barrere & Roger Cole: “Grain Of Sand” – only scratching the surface!

All of Paul Barrere & Roger Cole’s lyrics are deep, philosophical, and wonderful, but their latest song “Grain Of Sand” is the epitome of great lyrics: “I’m nothing more, a grain of sand upon the shore, a grateful human – a part of the plan, ain’t it grand, ain’t it grand, when I step back and see, the frightening need to find a place in infinity, can’t they see, oh can’t they see”. It’s moody, soft, dark, and slow, with beautiful vocals that are very exposed to the nerve. It is a truly gorgeous song, well written and well sung…once again, by this prolific musical duo.

Barrere & Cole usually sing with perspective and a gruff lonesomeness about day-to-day situations, no different than simple, but observant storytellers. Their mood is sometimes down-and-out and searching, yet the duo also possesses the rugged, uplifting feel of a rampant steamroller at times.

The amazing thing is, though these guys have been singing and playing music for a lifetime and a half, each time they release a new song, they just come back stronger and more committed than before. Now that takes some doing.

After enough time, almost all bands run their course. But about 30 seconds into “Grain Of Sand”, you realize that Barrere & Cole are nowhere near that point and may in fact only be scratching their surface.

With gifted but unpretentious singing, fluid guitar and keyboard work everywhere and a down-home, juiced-up rhythm to their songs; Paul Barrere & Roger Cole don’t strive to blow listeners away with a wall-of-sound noise or cutting-edge effects. Theirs is hearty rock and roll, where the duo paves their own way and makes music on their own terms.

On “Grain Of Sand”, there’s no hype, no gimmick, no pretense, and no excess. If you own any Tom Petty, Neil Young, Jackson Browne, Eric Clapton, and very early Bruce Springsteen music, then you can slip this acoustic-driven track somewhere in-between that grouped collection.

This music is good because it’s honest, simple, and straight from the heart.  And “Grain Of Sand” proves that someone out there still knows how to write truly poignant songs. With most musical groups, either the music is great, or the lyrics are great.

With the Paul Barrere & Roger Cole, it’s definitely both. Each song has a life of its own, but each one has something in common: They are all poetic. This song shows a depth and character that we don’t really get to see in most other music today.

So put away whatever else you have clogging your ears and listen to music that feels like the artists are deeply connected to what they are doing and truly care about what they are releasing. Once again, you have to give Paul Barrere & Roger Cole credit for consistently putting out great material.

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