Gerry Cea – “Something New” – slick production, guitar slinging and vivid storytelling
An Argentine born entrepreneur, Gerry Cea is the reason I love the power of the internet. It helps you discover, the otherwise impossible to find personalities and creatives of our time. Gerry moved from Argentina to NYC in 1985 and then moved to Miami in 1993, where he opened the popular Prima Pasta restaurant and met many artists, including David Lee Roth, Iggy Pop, Janet Jackson, Alan Parsons, Lenny Kravitz and Jose Feliciano.
He had already caught the music bug when he was 9 years old, but it was as a grown man, when his son left for college that Gerry Cea seriously set about filling up the empty spaces in his life with music making. In fact his album, “Something New”, put together with producer-friend Rudy Perez, and Rudy’s son Chris Price, came to be when the artist hit fifty.
Thankfully, music has no time limits, hence we are blessed with 12 tracks of solid, melodic pop and rock. There is so much diversity and wonderfully written and performed songs on “Something New”. This is what music should be about, a complete album you can play back to back, and enjoy every single track.
Gerry, along with his production crew, care about the details, striving to make each song as perfect as they can get it. From the moment I turned on the opening track, “Its Ok”, I haven’t been grooving and jamming to an album the way I have here, and I’m of the firm belief that this is exactly what Gerry Cea tries to get people to do with this release.
There is so much positivity running through the album, which one can even gauge from the track titles alone. And even when a song is entitled, “Sad To Say Goodbye”, there is still a fat streak of positivity wrapped inside it. Gerry Cea is a 50-year-old student of the game.
This album is his playground, and represents the fruits of learning and listening to others. The guitars twang, the drums bang, and the melodies soar, as Gerry works his way across standouts, such as the fleshed out upbeat title track, “Something New”, or the slow acoustic version of “The One”, which discusses the relationship of Gerry’s son and his ex-girlfriend.
Elsewhere, Gerry shines on the rocker “I Got News For You”, the bouncy “Mine” which is brimming with layered harmonies. The album continues with a vaguely Americana-flavored tune on “Back To You”, before switching to a rock n’ roll croon on “Our Love Goes On Forever”.
The mid-tempo swing of “Camilla” precedes the full-blown version of “The One”. Gerry makes the song unique with his memorable vocals and added instrumentation which will likely have the listeners singing to it, long after the song is over.
Overall a diverse release, “Something New” has much to offer listeners. Whether its slick production, guitar slinging and vivid storytelling, Gerry Cea’s recorded effort launches the singer into adult contemporary territory exemplifying exactly why we miss pop and rock of this caliber.
