Gay Chicago Magazine | After Dark: Music
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“Stirred Not Shaken”/ Mike Rickard (www.mikerickard.com) - Mike Rickard comes from that great school of singer/songwriter who specializes in pop hooks, not coffeehouse musings. And on his solo debut, “Stirred Not Shaken,” Rickard uses that talent - along with a Kenny Loggins comfort food-type warmth and sincerity - to explore the simple truths and all aspects of a relationship, from first glimpse at a bar and the quiet joy of a new love to the rocky paths we invariably find ourselves stumbling upon.

Although this is one of those rare discs where the shuffle feature on your CD (or iPod) wouldn’t disappoint in its selection, the set does feature a number of outstanding tracks: The heartbreaking Home For the Holidays; the award-winning Forgot to Forget, a country-tinged sappy tearjerker that you’ll enjoy anyway, right down to Rickard ’s little twist at the end; the jazz-inflected Do You Know?, which is a frank missive from a son to the father who abandoned him when he was three; and the commitment ceremony-ready love song Forever Ran Out of Time. It may have been released last year, but I’m naming “Stirred Not Shaken” one of my 10 best of the 2005. (****)