Welcome to another new edition of "For The Record." In this edition, I focus on an upcoming album by David Fitzpatrick titled “Parachutes in Hurricanes.” For those readers not yet in the know, Fitzpatrick is the veteran frontman of Milwaukee’s David Fitzpatrick Band.

'Parachutes in Hurricanes'

His signature sound is a blend of Midwest vocals and vaguely Bob Seger-like mid-tempo rock music. “Parachutes in Hurricanes” is his the first solo offering. Fitzgerald, on guitar and vocals, is backed by several other artists including: producer Gary Tanin (piano, keyboards, backing vocals, and arrangements), Jack Spann (organs, synths and piano), Legend Dick Eliot (jazz guitar), Luke Lilla (tenor sax), David Schoepke, Michael Koch, and Craig Brog (drums), Ethan Bender and Paul Noeske (bass), Gerry Ochoa (guitar), and Tom Buckley (additional piano, organ and synth).

Track by track

This 11-track premiere platter opens on “Lost on the Same Street.” It’s a nice opening track on an album meant to unify listeners with a universal truth that we all have issues in life. An a capella line leads into this lyrical lament about the need to hold on to one’s dreams.

The second selection is “Long Way Down” which includes a touch of Eric Clapton and was co-written with Tanin. It’s followed by the second Fitzpatrick-Tanin tune “Half a Mile.” It’s a welcoming, hopeful song vaguely reminiscent of old Gin Blossoms material.

The next number is another Fitzpatrick-Tanin song titled “How I Wish.” This one focuses on often times clever wishful thinking which we all engage in from time to time.

The requisite yet impressive ballad “All in Tonight” comes next in a Fitzpatrick-Tanin team-up that seems ready-made for a TV or motion picture soundtrack and has a vague Joe Cocker feeling to it.

“Your Ghost,” like the album opener, is another example of a Fitzpatrick solo composition. It works quite well before the Fitzpatrick-Tanin track “Money Isn’t Everything.” One of the best songs on the disc, this Mellencamp-reminiscent work comes complete with catchy moments and a helpful note to boot.

The eighth installment is “So Happy with You.” Another of Fitzpatrick’s solo efforts complete with a dash of unexpected blues, it’s highlighted by a late 1960s, early 1970s feel. Tanin adds input again on “Bed of Roses” which is solidly consistent in both performance and writing.

“If I Could” is Fitzpatrick’s final solo selection.

It features fun harmonies and keeps his signature sound solid. The Tanin-touched “Done to Me” is a quiet, reflective, apt album endnote.

With a release date of June 8, the album is a fine intro to Fitzpatrick as a solo artist. The songs, complete with distinctive arrangements, presents a not too dramatic picture of real life complete with a balance between the cloud of growing older and the complementary silver lining of wisdom and experience. So get ready to shell out the shekels for David Fitzpatrick’s “Parachutes in Hurricanes.” It’s worth it; and besides, “Money Isn’t Everything.”
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