Review Links:

Sunday Blue by Richard Warren - Singout! Magazine

Dr. Demento - Syndicated Radio Personality

Neil Fagan - The Performing Songwriter Magazine - DIY Top 12 Picks

Richard Warren - Sing Out! Magazine Fall 1999

Fran Gray - Contributing writer, Rocket Magazine and JAM magazine

"Acoustic Eclectic", 88.1 & 93.9 WDIY-FM, Allentown, PA
Produced and hosted by Otto Bost

Matthew Robinson, The Boston Globe

More Quotes

Eric's fans, the media, and the venues are saying:

Joni Mitchell is singing torch songs, Holly Near is singing torch songs, so why shouldn t Eric Schwartz? He's an artist like Mitchell and Near, who has been stylistically all over the map. On his previous releases my ear always focused more on what he said than how he said it. Sunday Blue reveals one of the most pleasing voices among male singer-songwriters. Pleasing may be too weak, let's say downright luscious. Accompaniment includes Schwartz on piano as well as guitar, sax, cello, bass and brushes on the percussion. Furthermore, while no threat to Rodgers and Hart or Cole Porter, he writes some memorable torch songs that could easily pass for standards. If you are expecting a folky singer-songwriter here, listen elsewhere. If you'd enjoy a mixture of the Taylor Brothers (James and Liv) with a bit of Tony Bennet and Barry Manilow, then Sunday Blue will sound heavenly. Don't misunderstand, it's not sappy or syrupy, but you won't confuse it with John Gorka or Richard Shindell. The songs may not be Schwartz's best compositions, but they hold up well to repeated listenings. Stephanie Corby and Rachel Davis provide harmonies at the perfect moments on several songs, and their fine voices nicely compliment Schwartz. Of the ten original or co-authored songs of the eleven on this CD produced by Schwartz, Jack Williams and Neale Eckstein, "Do Not Go Gently unto That Goodbye" is a real keeper and one of the folkier numbers accompanied by just steel and nylon string guitar. "Come to Me Love," also on the folkier side, is truly pretty, a word I rarely use. For good measure, Schwartz includes "You Don't Know Me" by Arnold and Walker. So if you're weary of the raw edges of the singer songwriters and want to relax to some grand love songs delivered with suave sophistication by a velour voice, spin Sunday Blue.

- Richard Warren
Sing Out! Magazine
Copyright © Sing Out! Magazine

"There are so many wonderfully witty songs on it. His humor and talent ring loud and clear."

- Dr. Demento
Syndicated Radio Personality

When an album begins with a jazzy piece about two loving lesbians and ends with a gospel-tinged ballad about loss and accepteance, you know that almost anything can be thrown into the middle. Anything and everything to be exact.

That's How It's Gonna Be is a giddy mix of moods, messages, and styles. The title track is the gospel-flavored closer. "Hattie and Mattie" are the lovers in the lead track. Schwartz obviously has a knack for crafting witty and insightful ditties. He steers clear of the novelty song approach, but what makes him even more unique is that he can shift gears and write a touching ballad like the heartfelt plea to a loved one in "Brother Mine," or the gentle ache for solace in "Only Be." Then it's back to some jocularity in the delightful "I Just Killed Kafka," wherein he converses with then crushes one of New York's most unwelcome tenants, the cockroach. When they can make you laugh and make you cry (and they're in the right places), you know you're gonna get the whole roller coaster ride. Hang on tight, because Schwartz does that.

- Neil Fagan
The Performing Songwriter Magazine
DIY Top 12 Picks - September/October 1999
Copyright © The Performing Songwriter Magazine

"Eric Schwartz writes very "in-your-face" songs. He leads with a raucous tribute to a pair of elderly lesbians "Hattie and Mattie," who were hip and gay long before it was acceptably common. The titles provide a pretty good idea of Schwartz's moods "A Season With Dylan," "Cuz Mary Said So," "I Just Killed Kafka," and "Psycho Ballet," to name a few of the eleven songs here. Schwartz has a lot on his mind and he does not mince words telling you what it is. Professionally produced by Crit Harmon with lively production leaning towards pop, the whole sound carries the zing demanded by Schwartz's songs. One of the more unusual songs, "Me 'n' Jenny And The Lovely Marilu" is about a rather unusual menage a trois that might strike some listeners as a trifle weird, not to mention the Kafka song, which is about a cockroach. A gentle and very pretty song is "Only Be" about simply making it through life. This is not a CD you play in the background...it's up-front music.

- Richard Warren
Sing Out! Magazine Fall 1999
Copyright © Sing Out! Magazine

"Some artists stand out because of the catchy melodies they write. Others stand out because of their amazing voices. But once in a blue moon, an artist comes along with a CD that's full of deeply powerful, heart wrenching, absolutely hysterical, light hearted, heavy story telling that's far beyond the norm. These people are songwriters. They see things that many people miss. They see the humor instilled in everyday living. They see the pain. They see the contradictions that make people the interesting works of art that they are. Eric Schwartz's CD "That's How it's Gonna Be" is in the latter category. Not because his melodies aren't catchy, or his voice isn't unique, but because he's wonderfully gifted at capturing people and situations and giving a lyrical visual that's both entertaining and endearing.

Track 5 "I Just Killed Kafka" is about a semi-fictitious, soda sipping, jello eating, stratacastor playing, suicidal cockroach that Schwartz found in his refrigerator one night. This infectious fifties style rock-n-roll song, complete with a saxophone and guitar jam between Schwartz and Kafka the roach, ends in Kafka's demise when he mistakenly reveals the inevitability of his abounding proliferation. "Brother Mine" is a compelling piano ballad about two brothers who lose contact with each other over the years. One reaches out with email and letters but the other never responds."Hattie and Mattie" a song about two elderly lesbians sounds almost like a simplified Glen Miller song with a clarinet intro.

The musical styles vary across the album from bluesy folk and fifties rock to old-timey 40's ish music. With a host of guest musicians, Schwartz uses instrumentation that fits the storyline of each song. Combined with his unique personal perspective on the world, he creates unforgettable music through his experiences. Kafka will live on in my memory forever, but thank goodness
not in my refrigerator."

- Fran Gray
Contributing writer Rocket Magazine and JAM magazine
Copyright © Music Reviews of the Wild West

"This week's guest was Eric Schwartz, a uniquely diverse songwriter who, after several years of performing throughout the northeastern US, has just released his debut CD, called "That's How It's Gonna Be." Eric has lived in New York's Greenwich Village for several years now, though he grew up mostly in Boston, and knows that city quite well, too. While he prefers Boston's music scene, he's grown accustomed to, and perhaps dependent upon, the energy of New York. "If you have no energy, somebody else will -- and they'll give you some of theirs," he says.

Eric is a writer who has mastered many styles, and his songs are as stylistically varied as the people of New York. He began our visit with the song that begins his CD, a toe-tapper of a ditty about his downstairs neighbors ("Hattie and Mattie") that swings with all the flash of a classic show tune (On the CD, Billy Novick's clarinet adds just the right touch to this song -- kudos to producer Crit Harmon for framing Eric's work so effectively). Eric followed up with "Only Be," a warm and cozy song about enjoying the solace of a secluded cabin, then took us on an audio tour of Washington Square Park with a playful observation called "Psycho Ballet." He turned to the piano to wrap up our visit with a passionate performance of the gospel-styled title song from his CD.

Some of Eric's songs may shock or offend (indeed, some of his lyrics are not suitable for prime-time airplay), while others thoughtfully tug at listeners' heartstrings with gentle words. The thread that holds them together is the solid craftsmanship of a young man with a pen in his hand and an intriguingly offbeat view of the world."

- "Acoustic Eclectic", 88.1 and 93.9 WDIY-FM, Allentown, PA
Produced and hosted by Otto Bost
Monday, June 7, 1999, 7-9 PM

"Combining gorgeous clarity with sly wit, Eric Schwartz tickles taboos and heartstrings with his curious and courageous compositions. From the simple patterns of "Only Be" to the ingenious metamorphosis of "I Just Killed Kafka", and from the Arthurian legend of "My Lady of the Broken Glass" to the depressingly contemporary "Psycho Ballet," Schwartz holds up mirrors some might wish were broken. He has a creative honesty that is both brutal and vital. Especially affecting are the aching blues "What's a Poor Boy to Do?" and the piano bar structures of the devotional ballad "Brother Mine." Nearly every song grabs (sometimes a bit uncomfortably) at the listener. In dealing with diverse topics with a singular talent, Schwartz not only demonstrates a command of many styles of music , but ushers in what will hopefully be a new breed of songwriters who can deal with traditional, modern, and post-modern forms with near-equal aplomb."

- Matthew Robinson, The Boston Globe, 4/15/99

"An Eric Schwartz set is like having lunch with the Algonquin Round Table. He has the wit of Robert Benchley and the irreverence of Dorothy Parker, alternating with the humanity and sensitivity of Harpo Marx."

- Neale Eckstein, Fox Run House Concerts, Sudbury, MA

"I had a fabulous time seeing you at Passim's last night. I hope you realize that each time you perform, you give a gift to every member of the audience - you give them laugher, fun, clever lyrics, amusing facial expressions, the wit of extemporaneous humor, and lovely, pretty music. I'm playing your CD right this minute, and loving every minute of it..."

- Robert, a fan from Cambridge

"Indeed, many of Eric's songs are "in your face" compositions, powerful, outrageous and controversial. In others, he displays his gentle, poignant side, creating as he says, a dichotomy of material. But truly, that gentle and poignant muse is there in the underpinnings of his other songs.... [Eric] writes sympathetically and affectionately about his characters and while breathing them life into them, makes us care, and believe."

- Richard Fox, Host, CrossTracks, WCUW 91.3 FM, Worcester, MA

"Eric Schwartz has written some really good songs on a variety of subjects in a variety of styles. He's a new songwriter who will be heard of more and more as time goes by."

- Sonny Ochs, DJ, WRPI, Troy, NY

"I loved Eric's debut CD. He's different from anything else I see and hear out there. The way he presents his songs on this record, both the serious and the funny, made me want to listen to them again..and I did!"

- Matt Smith, Club Passim

"The only bad thing about an Eric Schwartz show is that it ends. I wish I could install him in my living room and insert a quarter in his ear to get my daily fix."

- Chris Smith, Music Editor, Inside New York

And the raves just keep coming!

Check out this review of Eric's new cd by Kevin McCarthy
on-line at Celtic & Folk Music CD Reviews

and even more on-line reviews...
in the Folk section at Rambles