Greg Roensch – Rock-n-Roll Oasis: Live at Tiny Telephone (Album Review)

Today’s review features Rock-n-Roll Oasis: Live at Tiny Telephone by Greg Roensch with Elisa Wendell & Jules Leyhe. This is a live rock performance. I love it when bands capture themselves live on the night of a great performance. I’m really looking forward to hearing what this band can do.

The album features Greg Roensch on acoustic guitar and vocals, Jules Leyhe on electric guitar, and Elisa Wendell adding vocals. This live album was recorded and engineered by Danielle Goldsmith with Mastering done by Amar Lal. Of the 18 songs on the album, Greg wrote all of them except two originals by Elisa Wendell (My Kitchen, Pay Attention 2 Me), and four covers written by David Byrne, JJ Cale, Neil Young, and Sinéad O’Connor.

As the band states on Bandcamp: “It was a cold and rainy November night when Greg Roensch, Jules Leyhe, and Elisa Wendell performed two sets of original music (plus a handful of covers) at Tiny Telephone recording studio in Oakland, California. Here’s your chance to listen to a show that audience members referred to as magical, unique, and fun – which is exactly what you’d expect when entering a rock-n-roll oasis. Welcome in.Feel free to listen for free, but please note I’m donating 100% of my proceeds from all sales in February 2025 to MusiCares for fire relief support for music professionals impacted by the Los Angeles wildfires.”

So let’s have a listen … and buy the album to support the fire relief fund!

The album starts with The Dream with a heavily reverb-drenched electric guitar joined shortly thereafter by a rhythmic acoustic guitar. Rock and Roll Oasis is the first vocal track with Greg and Elisa joining together – their voices blend well. The star of the track, however, is Jules’ lead electric guitar work. Greg has a voice that reminds me a little of Tom Waits.  Nice track. [Author’s Note: After finishing the review, I finally figured out who Greg’s voice reminds me of … and it’s Gordon Lightfoot.]

The third track Come On Over (and I’ll cook some chicken). I love the lyrics on this one. However, the lead guitar again steals the show. The next song, the David Byrne cover “Heaven” starts with a beautiful acoustic guitar strum. About a bar named Heaven. “Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens.” The group’s performance reminds me of acoustic Neil Young.

“Get the fuck out of my kitchen!” is how the next song introduces itself with Elisa taking the lead vocals. She has quite an engagingly sweet voice. Best song on the album so far. The song immediately captures your attention with a nice vocal rhythm and an engaging vocal rap delivery.

I’m Eating In My Car Again is the next song on the album. I probably would have left this song off the album. Very hard sonic transition from My Kitchen (above) to this song which is more in the red-dirt country folk vein. Have You Seen the Loveliness follows up in the same musical genre. I like the reference to Pinball Wizard. It’s a bit more interesting than Eating in My Car Again. I’m not really digging the lyrics. The lyric rhymes seem overly simplistic. Nice lead guitar work though.

The next song Grasshopper starts off with a nice arpeggiated acoustic guitar. This song is a vocal duet featuring Greg and Elisa. The lead guitar is drenched in reverb. This is a nice song. “Grasshopper, hop along …” Elisa’s voice really makes the song.

Nobody But You is a common folk chord progression and sounds like countless other folk tunes. A very Neil Young/John Prine type vibe. The electric guitar literally sings in this tune, sounds like a lap steel guitar, very cool. Nobody listens … Nobody But You. Clever lyrical structure here.

The next song Magnolia is a JJ Cale cover. Greg’s voice does not quite have the character of Neil Young or JJ Cale, but with it’s raspy nature, falls in that same category. I like Elisa’s “whoo, oooh” vocals later in the track.

Elisa’s song Pay Attention 2 Me is a killer jazz vamp with Elisa’s vocal timing stealing the show. She definitely needs to be singing lead more. This song is sonically interesting and I particularly like her jazz vocal off-beat timing. The lead electric guitar competes for audience attention. I feel like I’m in a movie theatre watching Jessica Rabbit. LOL. Very nice tune.

The next song E is for Elephant is another campy track in the folk-style of Eating in my Car Again and Have You Seen the Loveliness. This one has audience participation answering back in the chorus “E is for Elephant.” I really enjoyed the country-style lead guitar work on this tune. A Blackbird Flies starts off much more somber with an arpeggiated acoustic guitar against the singing electric lead guitar, maybe a lap-steel guitar. “Give peace a chance, children are dying.” A song about war and peace. Very Tolstoy. The lead guitar steals the show on this tune. Very nice picking.

The next song You Never Know features the lead electric guitar sailing through the verse, again a slide or lap steel guitar sound. I like the lyrics on this song. Has a Tom Waits edge to it. I love the lead guitarist’s tone here.

Next up is a Neil Young cover Cortez the Killer. One of my favorite songs. The two guitarists blend their parts really nicely during the long intro in this song. If you can imagine Tom Waits singing a Neil Young song? This is it. The lead guitar work in this song is exceptional, as it has been the whole album.

The sixteenth song on the album is The Last Day of Our Acquaintance, a Sinead O’Connor cover. Very somber beginning. Getting church vibes from the instrumentation – the arpeggiated acoustic guitar, the very atmospheric electric lead guitar soundscape, and the ethereal blend of Greg and Elisa’s vocals.

The Dream Returns is a sequel revisiting the opening track. Same song, different version. I like Elisa’s ethereal backing vocals on this track. The album finishes off with the original tune I Heard the News. A nice acoustic guitar riff opens the song, with a singing slide or lap-steel guitar. I really like it when both Greg and Elisa are singing together, very nice vocal blend.

This album is a very nice live performance. And I’m impressed that it sounds so good, with no mistakes from the band, and the engineering, mixing, and mastering make you feel like you’re in the room with the band. My favorite two songs are both Elisa’s originals, which I can hear on radio. Perhaps the band can release clean radio edit versions of both her songs?

SCORE/Excellent: Hats off to Jules Leyhe! The lead guitar work on this album is exceptional. Just the right atmospheric sounds. And I also really dug Elisa’s vocals on the album, particularly on her two original songs. Even though there’s a song or two that maybe should have been left on the cutting room floor, the lead guitar work and Elisa’s ethereal and jazzy vocals sell me on this album. They’ll sell you on it too. Take a chance and listen to this unique, inspiring, live album! Much love, Beth

[We rank singles, EPs, and albums on a scale of Poor, Mediocre, Good, Excellent, and Outstanding]

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