Plain and Fancy: City Lights - Silent Dancing (1975 us, remarkable groovy melodic rock)

Thursday, June 19, 2025

City Lights - Silent Dancing (1975 us, remarkable groovy melodic rock)

One of the more mellow sounds echoing out of New York in the waning months of 1975 belongs to a brand-new city-based group known as CITY LIGHTS. The band which formed earlier this year is a blend of talent, which styles itself a bit after the Led Zeppelin mold, that is blending a soft sound with" the heavy sound of the electric guitar. Judging from the sounds emanating off of -their initial album, entitled “Silent Dancing”, the year to come may prove an even brighter success story for the quartet.

The highlight of SILENT DANCING is in the harmony formed by the three vocals, Mark Abel, John Berenzy and Don Wilkins. Together they form, a lyrical sound that is reminiscent-of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young in. that they are all equal co-leaders. No individual voice drowns out the others; it is all a synchronized sound. This is a unique quality lost in a lot of today's bands, which—follow the old Rolling Stones stereotype of one lead singer in competition with the instruments of the others. In the case of City Lights this is not so. Here is a balance of voices, present in each .song on the album.

The initial songs on the first side of SILENT DANCING are throwbacks to the era of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. “Changes in the World" and "Travelin' Man" both feature not only: the harmony made famous by C, S, N, and Y the lead singer sounds like Steven Stills in his delivery. The latter song begins as it is a remake of "Wooden Ships." Lest anyone think that City Lights is patterning itself after any one style, rest assured that they have undergone 'several changes during the year. Once known primarily as a blues group, they have tried deliberately to change avoid going into the rut that many bands find themselves when they" attempt to establish any" one style. For this reason, the songs on the second side of SILENT DANCING offer quite-a difference from what is on the first side. For one example, the opening cut, which is the title tune is an instrumental with a soft mellow tone. The subsequent tunes move into a style of harder rock. "Sail Like A Nightingale" provides this effect-by employing a more pointed use of guitar and drums.

Throughout the album the most noticeable feature is the manner in which the "band is able to adjust its harmonies to any style of music. In this sense, the word that ~best~ describes City Lights is diverse: By no means is this a "message" group. They are - not given to songs- of content; but concentrate rather on musical cohesiveness. As a new group, it is likely that they feel this to be the most comfortable way establishing themselves. In fact, the most remarkable trait about the lyrical quality of City Lights-" is their ability to make themselves a representative of today's generation without going all - out to say something "meaningful.'' Their music is their message, to coin a cliché and the group seems at ease with this.

The musical backgrounds from which these four men evolve is as diverse as the sounds on SILENT DANCING. John Berenzy is a guitar instructor in New- York, whose creative abilities stretch into the library area as well as music. Drummer Leland Bobbe has appeared in pit bands" on and off broad way and his interests include photography as well as the drums. Don Wilkins, who does keyboards for City Lights —comes from a musical family. His grandfather was a product of the age of ragtime, and although he began as a guitarist the heritage of his family became his own and he moved to piano. He is responsible for the more mellow of the group's output, inasmuch as his leaning Is toward love ballads. Finally, Mark Abel is the member of the quartet with the-most, extensive experience. From his pen come most of the lyrics on SILENT DANCING and his background includes periods with Michael Brown, a guitarist late of Stories, and Christian Osborne of the Plastic Ono Band. Together, these four have been able to mesh their talents into a truly melodic album.

Their music is best described: as cohesive, and it is reasonable to assume that future-endeavors will promise more of the same, subscribing to the theory that the more a group produces, the more it grows together. With City- Lights, togetherness is the key adjective

by Larry Warshawski, Tuesday, December 23, 1975