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Many of us who grew up on the goyisha music and felt a bit stifled by the current offerings in the Jewish world were refreshed a couple of years back when Blue Fringe Band came on the seen. There has been much anticipation for their 2nd album, 70 Faces, which was released this past Sunday. I picked it up yesterday and have been through it twice. If you aren't into them, then the rest if this post won't interest you, so you can stop reading now. Considering that this album came about a year after they originally promised, my expectations were high. Unfortunately, I was mostly disappionted. It starts when you go to your local Judaica store to plop down your $20 (does goyish music cost this much today?). You would expect to at least get a proper jewel case. But no, the CD comes in a cardboard case like it was some free promotional thing you get in the mail. Those things don't fit nicely in my CD rack so always wind up stacked at the bottom where my 2 year old can reach it and use it to smack things with. Anyway, not all the music is bad. Some of it is pretty good (although the tracks I liked the most I had already heard). In general, Dov tries too hard to sing. In the previous album he sounded relaxed, natural...a little raw, but that worked. Now he seems to have decided he's a vocalist (maybe he took lessons or something). It makes the whole thing sound a little boy-band-ish. Avi is awesome as usual although underutilized. There aren't any tracks where he just plays extemporaneously. Danny and Hayyim are pretty good and the guest musicians definitely add something (especially the horns). Oh, and nearly every song is in English. Many have Hebrew choruses, but I think there are only 2 all-Hebrew songs. The longest track is 6:30. Here is the track review:

1. Lo Irah This one's not bad. "V'Hayikar lo l'fached k'lal". "H' li v'lo irah". I wasn't sure about it the 1st time I heard it but its growing on me.
2. Av Harachamim Boring. I can't seem to focus my attention on it for more than 10 seconds. You can hear a clip here. The clip is 1 minute long. See if you can listen to the whole thing.
3. Modim I like this song. It reminds me of the last album. You can hear some of it here.
4. Lifnei Adon A completely Hebrew song. Also a completely annoying one.
5. Generations Not bad. Can't say I loved it, but I enjoyed it. Nice little keyboard thingy toward the end.
6. Shidduch Song I liked this song when I heard the live version included on a hidden track on the 1st album. This version is also good. They added some horns which make it sound very cool. But the live version had a long jam at the end of it which was very exciting. This one doesn't have that...too bad. I would have rather had that than the horns. Here is a live version of it (a different one than is on the 1st album).
7. Ein Mayim ...Elah Torah. Ein li elah Ayeif.
8. Shir Hashirim This song rocks! No question that this is the best song in the album. A live version is here. On the album version you can understand the lyrics. This song is a pseudo-translation of pieces of Shir Hashirim. Great horns and some good guitar playing by Avi.
9. Roll Cool track...makes my head bob back and forth as I type.
10. 70 Faces Title track. Jazzy, which I like. But a little too CD101.9 for me, if you know what I mean.
11. Hineini A song about Akeidas Yitzchak. It's not such a bad song, but I don't think I would listen to it. The drums are a nice touch.

Hidden Tracks There aren't any, so don't bother looking. Artists aren't mechuyiv to give you any, but since there were 2 on the 1st album, I thought they might give us something here. Ok, so I don't hate it. It's not so bad. I just think the first album was much better. And the songs that are really worth hearing on this album are available in live versions for free. Don't go rush out and buy it. But if you get a chance to go to a concert, I'd take it. Knowing Blue Fringe, alot of these songs probably sound much better live.