This review is part of a series in which I review Neal’s solo records one by one chronologically, and chat with various friends and bandmates who were part of the making of each record. A collection of recordings made between 1996-1998 at Neal’s home studio in New Jersey, 1998’s Glitterhouse release Basement Dreams was named Americana Album of the Year by Mojo Magazine. As always, paired with Ginty’s glittering keys and Angie McKenna’s angelic harmonies, this album is a lot to digest – 23 tracks Neal recorded and engineered himself on an 8-track recorder, and 10 live tracks on the…

The Sun Rises Here is Neal’s true, honest-to-god, soft-country-rock record. He flirted with it on Fade Away Diamond Time, but this album solidified his place in the “alt-country” registry. This album has all of the necessary elements – mandolin, pedal steel, lots of acoustic guitar, a sometimes twang-y vocal- to give it a true New Jersey-meets-John Denver/Bernie Leadon/Poco flavor, with lyrics in the vein of Townes Van Zandt or Jackson Browne. The album was recorded in one week at Master Control in Burbank with many of the same players from the Fade Away session. The record kicks off with “Today…

To use Neal Casal’s own words to describe his 1997 release, it “…really isn’t a record at all… it’s a sadly broken but strangely contented family of demos, dirges, out-takes, take-outs, songs proper and song fragments.” Containing outtakes from Fade Away Diamond Time, electrified versions of songs from Basement Dreams, and preliminary singles, each song was recorded and mixed in studios from coast to coast between 1994-1996. Only 1000 copies were initially pressed. The album’s liner notes alone make a physical copy worth scoring – credits include a “guitarred and feathered” Casal, “organ donor” John Ginty, and Greg Leisz on…

UPDATE 8.18.22 – The Neal Casal Music Foundation is reissuing special edition vinyls of Rain, Wind and Speed- get yours here. This is part two of Petal Motel’s series where we go through each Neal Casal solo album one by one and chat with friends and fellow musicians who participated in their making. Neal Casal’s second release, the tender, raw Rain, Wind and Speed, was recorded in just five days in a neighborhood studio. After some personnel changes at Zoo Records, the label that had released Fade Away Diamond Time, cut Neal from their roster. He got back in a…