Album Review: Tales of America by J.S. Ondara

Every year I have at least one album, but usually a few, that really stop my review progress. I bet I listened to this album 20 times to try and figure out how to review it. Silly how I'll get stuck on an album that I'm debating a 1 or 2 star review on. Following the Rhapsody rating method I give the album 1 out of 5 stars for Just OK.

So after 20 listens how did I get to one star? Ondara, I would say, is a blend of Van Morrison and Tracy Chapman. Two artists I happen to like quite a bit and I felt that with his sound he is able to create fairly solid songs. My problem is lyrical. After 20 listens I couldn't tell you what one song is about. Not only are the lyrics pretty abstract, but also his vocal presentation makes it hard to understand the words. For me it just makes the songs miss on a level that I can't get past.