“War and Peace, Part 1” is a great listening experience provided by UniversalDice, a band of substance without question, as Gerry Dantone makes his messages loud and clear on issues surrounding the political landscape, and this new single adds the experience of war and peace to the mix. Dantone’s words are always softly sung, and that can be heard in all their releases, but what hasn’t been heard is the progressive aspects of “War and Peace, Part 1” with the presence of a sax solo by Fred Rieter of the New York Jazz Ska Ensemble taking them to another level.
When I first gave UniversalDice a listen, I wasn’t sure what Dantone was all about, but reading lyrics always helps to find the musical thread in which they weave, and it goes to another place altogether on “War and Peace, Part 1.” I just didn’t know what to expect once I heard other songs, but the addition of the sax solo was tipped, and the difference is clearly an extraordinary musical treat with Rieter’s contribution. The song is layered with the story, and the music and words lead to a big sounding solo that drags your ears away with it.
“War and Peace, Part 1” starts off with subtle guitar chords and Dantone lightly explaining the story of an ordinary man and following a verse or two it takes off on a musical trip to express how gigantic the points of the lyrics are, and that begins with some killer electric guitar before the main event the sax solo delivers. This is also where Dantone explains how you don’t know who he is and can’t feel what he feels, and how he regrets survival after experiencing war from the inside out.
The video provides visual subtleties to enhance the sound and get you to the huge sax solo and makes sure to epilog with a few more words from Dantone, and what you get is almost like two songs in one catching lightning in a bottle together. If you’re not paying full attention to the theme before listening to “War and Peace, Part 1” then it will throw you for a loop once you hear it pick up and take off with Reiter adding the right feel to match Dantone’s narrative vocal approach with the truly amazing solo, and together they make musical magic.
The solo is brought on in the video, as if to clear the smoke and get a grenade of sound out of the horn and blow it up to leave an impression that helps believe the story, and that’s a success all its own, like only such a combo can pull off. This isn’t just a song about war and peace; it’s a combusting statement about the times being what they are between the two, as it provides escape from it all for seven minutes. “War and Peace, Part1” by UniversalDice, rolls the proverbial of its title and author, thanks to Dantone and Reiter’s obvious chemistry and delivers a bomb of a gem to show for it.
Chadwick Easton