NYC-based songwriter and former leader of Green Rooftops returns with this 3rd solo album in 7 years.While both his previous releases were excellent, strong assertions of creative strengths, with "Sparkle Lane", Rogers not only ups his game but ups the game of artists he brought in to articulate his vision. Co-producer Don Piper and Rogers have found a way to really create a sonic landscape and backdrop that can hold a candle to their inspirations (Zombies, Bowie, Byrds, The Church, The Kinks) and the musicianship of Joe McGinty(Psychedelic Furs, Ronnie Spector), Sal Maida(Milk `n Cookies, Sparks, Roxy Music), Pete Kennedy(The Kennedys) and a host of immensely talented folks shows that no expense was reigned in. The string arrangements, in particular, offer tasteful, never over-bearing connection to each song they accompany. Each song has a story to tell in vivid lyrical and music detail. That unique assortment of disparate talents comes together to bring Edward Rogers` creative vision to vibrant musical life on Sparkle Lane, adding another dynamic chapter to an already impressive body of work. "In Lewis Carroll`s Through The Looking Glass Alice wonders what life is like on the other side of a mirror. Following her curiousity Alice enters the mirror where she discovers a vast world of unanswered questions and paradoxes that actually exists within herself. Her journey is one of self-discovery, an introspective look at her own reflection, and on his newest album, Sparkle Lane, Edward Rogers gives you an inside view of the looking glass he walked through on his way to wonderland." Sparkle Lane is a street in England where my grandmother lived," Rogers explains."The concrete was mixed with pieces of broken glass, so when I was a kid and I`d go to my grandmother`s house in the evening, the street would always look like it was sparkling. That`s how life felt to me as a kid. And there was so much going on in England at the time; the music scene was happening and London was swinging, so England was where I wanted to be. So when I got to America, it was a major culture shock. The food and TV were a lot better, but I still felt uprooted," and the opening song, "Symbols `N` Mascots" uses lyrics like "Relics in my mind from a century I left behind," to capture the emotional displacement." - Unrated Magazine. Such are the stories contained on "Sparkle Lane" "It isn`t often that a musician can mix British pop, folk, blues, country, and rock and create a mesmerizing album that is worthy of recognition, but Rogers has done just that." -COSMOSGAMING. "Listening to this gives you the sense that at one point in his life Rogers was (or may still be) this kind of person. Other songs that tap into this frequency are "Original Excess Boy," a story about a selfish boy who "used people like toys," and the captivating "Last of the Artful Dodger," a beautifully crafted orchestration which includes violins and sitars. Sonically reminiscent of The Beatles` "Blue Jay Way," "Last of the Artful Dodger" plays like an open letter to all the mis-guided souls who are "going down the wrong path, further than before."" - Unrated Magazine. A modest masterpiece that grips from behind and turns you around to let you know that there are still plenty of stories to be told that deserved to be heard.
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