Dennis Lee Nowicki – About Those Presidents… Vol 2

Dennis Lee Nowicki – About Those Presidents… Vol 2 – Album Review

Okay…but…wait…

…this is what he does?

Obviously I wasn’t just going to jump in at volume two and not take a look to see if there was a volume one, but I discovered he’s got like…an entire range of presidentially-inspired music, and a whole other anthology that even came before this one About Those Presidents… did.  And like…sure…that’s one way to go about making music, I suppose…right?  There are no rules that say we can’t learn a little something along the way whilst listening to some music as far as I recall.  Unfortunately for Dennis, I’ve long proven to be practically impervious to learning in the past…or…I think they used to say my comprehension or retention is super poor…something like that.  But yeah…if you’re the learning type, or better yet, if you’re the learning type and more narrowly focused on learning about presidents specifically, have we got something for YOU today!  That’s right – I’d have to imagine you’ve been waiting for this highly specific moment in time for so very, very long…but wait no longer folks…Dennis is here, and he sees you.

For a second there, I thought Dennis might be the artist we’ve known as Soldier Rye throughout the years, because the vocal sound was so remarkably similar as “The Presidents Wedding Day” started up.  This whole album puts a Canadian like myself in a bit of a bizarre position…every nugget of knowledge that Nowicki is dropping is absolutely new to me – I don’t know anything about this stuff for the most part.  The information is pretty damn technical…we’re talkin’ about literal calendar dates and a whole lot of’em…so there’s that.  Y’all remember how I’ve told you many times throughout the years that the only thing I really know anything about is music, right?  This is kinda where that rubber meets the road.  If I’m to judge a record like this by its content, it’s easy to sum it up as informative, unbiased, and factual – as far as I can tell, you could take a fine comb to this and I doubt you’d find any errors at all.  So in that sense, it’s a great resource for you historical types.  If I’m to judge this record based on its musical content and whether or not Dennis has created something that people are going to want to listen to…I mean…I think we’re honestly having a wildly different conversation.  I find “The Presidents Wedding Day” to be amusing…a novelty…a curious oddity…that kinda thing.  I don’t think there’s a scenario where I could imagine this being regular everyday listening unless you were studying for a history test that was directly going to quiz you on the different wedding days of the US presidents, or an upcoming appearance on Jeopardy! – outside of that, it’s a bit tough to conceive of where this would actually fit in.  The singing is fine, the music seems like an afterthought to the concept driving the project, the melody takes a few liberties with name pronunciations & such…but sure, it’s playful, and it’s kinda fun…I think?

When we switch into “The Presidents Favorite Food,” I’d say you pretty much get the full idea on what this album is gonna be like to listen to from start to finish.  Dennis is Wikipedia, filtered and tailored to all your presidential inquiries, out loud in song form.  I give the man some serious credit in the sense that, like, again, we have to assume the dude knows his stuff, because what would be the point if he didn’t have all his facts straight here?  None of us are gonna have the time to go line by line and double-check his work for accuracy, and so we learn about what Hoover and Truman liked to eat, assuming we’re being told the truth based on how crazy it would be to make this album without factual content.  It’s wild enough to conceive that Dennis has made this album WITH factual content, you feel me?  He doesn’t need to stretch the truth here…a record like this is already an anomaly by a country mile.  I mean…look…I’m not gonna be the guy that’s gonna come out here and argue that this is an album that is made for myself personally, but I’m comfortable with saying there’s still a time & place to haul out something with this level of uniqueness to it.  Like, the next time you end up talking about anything presidential, you could one-up anyone by putting this on as a counter point.  Like…imagine having a friend over that was like, I can recite all the presidents name in alphabetical or chronological order, frontwards OR backwards (you know, your average Friday night fun) – and you’re like, well CHECK THIS OUT, I know exactly what they all ate because I memorized “The Presidents Favorite Food” by Dennis Lee Nowicki!  You just won whatever battle that was, and maybe even ended that bizarre friendship in the process.  It is somewhat interesting to hear this information so neatly packaged into song form; you can’t deny the level of talent, focus, and research that goes into making an album like this one here.

By the time I got to “The Presidents Nicknames” I felt like I got the gist, and to be truthful, I’m quite sure most folks are gonna feel the same way.  So with respect to that, you can literally identify by title which song might come in handy for you to learn about a specific presidential topic when you need to, but I gotta push back a little from the music side of things and question who Dennis is making this record for.  Is it himself, for a hobby?  Is it intended to be educational?  He does have a background in education as far as I know, and he’s clearly studied to create this content – but if that’s the case, who are we educating?  Musically, there’s gonna be an appeal to children of younger ages, but once you bump up into the teenage years, sounds & songs like we’ve heard on these first three tracks are a seriously tough sell, because they’re that far removed from what’s happening out there in the scene right now.  Adults, like myself (arguably), could potentially find this interesting for its novelty purposes…but that doesn’t end up equating to everyday listening and I don’t feel like Dennis is gonna be able to bridge that gap with the approach he’s got.  Beyond that, when you get to the point of “The Presidents Nicknames” and you start to feel the effects of similar melodic vocal patterns, in combination with an outright overwhelming amount of information…I dunno Dennis…I think you’re bound to overload the average everyday listener, you know what I mean?  He’s got the focus of a rapper or Lin-Manuel Miranda, all applied in a niche, historical context…it’s admirable…but I’m struggling to figure out where what Dennis is doing is going to end up making its biggest potential impact outside of extremely specific trivia nights.

When you get to “The Assassination Of Kennedy,” that’s where I feel like we can start to scratch the surface of the potential that Nowicki’s music could serve, and how it could find a broader spectrum of appeal.  It’s no secret to any set of ears listening that there’s more of a relevant sound on “The Assassination Of Kennedy” than we’ve experienced to this point on the record, and while I still wouldn’t go as far as to say it’s exactly in lockstep with what’s happening in the scene right now, it’s close enough that a track like this could certainly find a modern-day audience of all ages.  I’d also reckon that the content itself likely possesses a much more universal potential to it as well – think of how successful the whole true-crime section of media has become over the past five years, or how it’s always been something that has interested a very large section of people out there through television shows, music, movies, and podcasts over time.  When I was listening to “The Assassination Of Kennedy,” I started to look at Nowicki’s music and what it could go on to be in a different light…think of him like Weird Al, only like…his entirely serious and factual cousin I guess.  But if he was to diversify his sound like he does with this song, and continue to find more unique ways of singing out this factual content he’s creating, then I think that Dennis might just be onto something here.  Like I said, “The Assassination Of Kennedy” is where we start to feel like the potential of this project really reveals itself, and now I’m kinda interested.

My worry was that “The Assassination Of Kennedy” was more likely to be the exception & not the rule, and “The Presidents Time In Office” essentially confirmed that was probably the case.  Even though I don’t really hear a lot of possibilities for the music itself to appeal to the large audience a monumental effort like Dennis is putting in deserves, I’d probably still be okay enough with that.  Where it becomes way more problematic is the limitations that he’s putting on himself in how he can go about singing all this information.  Think of it in simple terms of beats, measures, syllables, and space – if you’re using ALL of the space that you have, filled to the absolute maximum syllable-for-syllable, then you end up taking away the potential to do anything much different than the last time you took that same approach – make sense?  Sixteen beats and bars is still gonna be sixteen beats and bars in any situation, and when you’re combining that with vocals/information/melody that spans the entire length of what’s available, you can’t help but to come out with a similar sound…I suppose that’s what I’m saying.  If Dennis was to, say, take a breath or a beat here and there, and use a bit of space to his advantage rather than to just break up the verses, I think he’d end up creating more separation from track to track, and I genuinely think that’s crucial in the context of a record like this.  If it wasn’t for “The Assassination Of Kennedy” slightly breaking things up a bit, I feel like we’d all have listened to About Those Presidents… Vol 2 and feel like Dennis never stopped spitting information at us, relentlessly.  I have no idea who out there needs to know the niche minutia of their presidents like what you hear in “The Presidents Time In Office,” but I’m definitely confident in saying that if there’s Dennis, then there are others like him too.

Yeah…I mean…it’s tough to suss this out.  Are we ever gonna need to know “The Presidents Weight?”  Again, I can understand the appeal of a unique project, and like I said from the get-go, this IS amusing to a degree…but it’s a lot.  I look at it this way – tracks like “The Presidents Wedding Day” and “The Presidents Weight” as being created from the exact same kinda formula – Dennis is basically singing numbers to us in these songs…and…you know…I’m just not quite convinced that’s what people are flocking to their boomboxes to rock with, you feel me?  I can acknowledge the skill it takes to craft the lyricism, even if it still follows the same similar melodic patterns I’ve already pointed out…but I’m still completely perplexed as to what Nowicki’s goals with this album/series would truly be.  He can’t really think there’s gonna be a time where we’re trapped in an elevator by a serial killer and the only way we’re gonna get out is to recite the weight of the presidents, does he?  Secondly – what are we really talkin’ about here?  Who weighs one weight?  Dennis mentions “compounded weight” at one point, but even in that instance, there’s still fluctuation over the span of time, isn’t there?  So like…John Adams was 150lbs at one point, but he could have been 148 two days earlier, and 152 two days later than that – you see what I mean?  It seems like a very arbitrary statistic that’s really twisted to fit this concept in my opinion, and that’s why it feels like Dennis is merely singing a bunch of numbers to us in a poetic style.  There are facts that can certainly be helpful for sure…even what we hear on “The Presidents Wedding Day” for example, could serve a purpose…but I’m not so convinced that what Dennis is singing about on “The Presidents Weight” could end up being relevant beyond providing an amusing moment.

So…I’m sure Dennis understands where I’m coming from just as much as I’m sure you will too.  You need to create dynamics and diversity through your ideas if they’re going to stand out from each other, and it’s the tangible similarities that Nowicki is bringing to each of his songs through the vocal melodies that are hindering the ability for each song to have its own identity.  A lot of artists/bands out there can feel like simply switching up the music in the background will accomplish that enough, but that’s not really the case – you need uniqueness in just about every aspect to establish the differences you’re making from track to track, and as I listened to “The Presidents Gravesites” I couldn’t help but feel like that’s a major piece that’s missing from this record.  I’m never going to be the guy that’s going to tell you what Dennis is doing is easy – it’s not – even despite adhering to similar vocal patterns song after song.  It still takes a monumental amount of effort to get this information collected, never mind how much more it would take to memorize, sing, and craft into the way that the lyrics flow.  Don’t get it twisted, Nowicki has talent, but it’s like the information itself – very specific and somewhat limited to one area.  I think what we feel as we listen to About Those Presidents… Vol 2 is that stretch we get when academic try to do what the artists do, or in situations vice-versa.  We’ve all got our lanes, and that’s usually where we find our most convincing successes.  Outside of those, we tend to wobble around a bit as we try to navigate a course that’s not nearly as familiar to us.  It’s not impossible, and we can do it, but we end up taking a few steps back from the high level of recognition we earn through what we do best.  It’s natural, and we don’t really have any choice but to accept we’re not experts at everything as we’re learning new things.  With Dennis having put out a handful of these records so far, this definitely ain’t his first rodeo – and I salute his ambition – but I’m still unconvinced this is the best forum for the knowledge he wants to communicate with us.  Academics are academics – that’s the facts, Jack.  It’s extremely difficult to twist a factually based project into audible entertainment and art the masses will engage with, and I felt like “The Presidents Gravesites” was as good of an example as any to highlight how hard that task really is.

And Bingo was his name-o.  Again, it’s not quite as simple as just switching up the music when the rest of the approach is the same-o.  “The Presidents First Job” makes as good a case as any in terms of being more diverse in the music department, but fundamentally, Dennis is still employing the same methods to get the information to us, and at track eight on this record, you can understand the risk that would come along with that.  I have a hard time believing that Nowicki hasn’t lost at least a few folks so far on the journey to this point…whether it’s the vocal pattern in the metering, or the similarities in the tone & way that he sings each song, or the relentless onslaught of information that’s continually coming at us – I feel like Dennis has gotta find the space in between to compromise with us and find that middle ground between what his interests are, what he wants to communicate, and what we’re all capable of absorbing in a single serving.  I mean, feel free to use me as the litmus test brother-man – I’m about as dumb as a post when it comes to anything outside of what does/doesn’t sound good – so if I’m representing the average set of ears out there, and I’m struggling…I dunno…I think there’s gotta be a few tweaks made in order to appeal to the sonic palette and minds of the masses.  I have no doubt whatsoever that Nowicki is smarter than I am in about a million different ways – but when it comes to this one forum…the art of making music…I might have the edge – and I’m definitely advising some caution.  I think he’s gotta be a lot more brutally objective with his material and really finding a way to highlight what could make his material more noticeably different from track to track, and that in doing so, he’ll be able to get the information he wants to communicate out there that much more effectively.  Because, sure, what “The Presidents First Job” would have been is interesting enough…and there’s some value in knowing what that was, in my opinion…but this still seems like Dennis would find more success in relating this all to us through spoken word events and educational classes, rather than music so far.

“The Presidential Greatest Achievements” brought a slight grin to my face, because it felt like you could really hear Nowicki doing his level best to switch things up vocally, even if it was just a little bit.  The problem was, even if he decided to take a syllable or two outta the way he’s tended to jam pack each and every line we’ve heard along the way, “The Presidential Greatest Achievements” has him stretching out his words in order to still fit that same pattern he brings to each tune.  So while there are noticeable differences, it’s still pretty much the same thing from a different angle.  What’s actually remarkable, is that it’s still ENOUGH to potentially make the difference at this point, because our ears have been craving some kind of tangible diversity.  Even though I’d maintain that Dennis is still going about this melodic pattern with the exact same method he’s been applying, the subtraction of a couple syllables here and there does create enough of an audible difference that we’d still probably be able to pick out “The Presidents Greatest Achievements” from the rest of the lineup as a result.  It’s almost bizarre that it can make that much of a difference when it’s still fundamentally so similar, but that’s the reality we’re workin’ with here – the record really needed it at this point, and even though the differences are minimal, the impact they make is that much greater by track nine in the set-list.  I’d reckon most of us are gonna feel more partial towards “The Presidents Greatest Achievements” and feel like it ended up being one of the album’s stronger tracks.  Dennis sings well, and with commendable consistency too – and I enjoyed the idea of trying to pin each president down to one defining greatest achievement.  I’d imagine historians might find a song like this a little debatable in that regard, but I’m confident that if Dennis hasn’t nailed the #1 achievement by universal consensus, it’d still be within everyone’s top three.

Where I end up having a tougher time personally, is tracks like “The Presidents Kids.”  Like…I’m a grown-ass man Dennis Lee Nowicki…and I don’t know if I can just be listening to tracks like this one, you dig?  This is what I was trying to explain at the start – who is this record attempting to educate, and who is the potential audience for About Those Presidents… Vol 2?  I look at a track like “The Assassination Of Kennedy” or even “The Presidents Greatest Achievements” and I could make a good case for this being geared towards adult education.  If I’m to judge by something like “The Presidents Kids,” then I’d tell ya it’s built more for the children out there.  That being said, if that’s the case, a catchy melody is gonna be a good tool for memorization yes, but it’d still gonna prove to be well above most kids’ heads in terms of absorbing the content for what’s actually being communicated in the information at its core.  So…I guess what I’m saying to Dennis, is that we’ve gotta tailor the focus of what these records are supposed to be, and who they’re supposed to be for…that’s probably the best place to start.  If it’s just people that want their niche presidential facts, that’s only gonna appeal to about .0006% of the global population if we’re being generous with our math…and while that’s still a decent number of people overall, I feel like Dennis is still capable of tweaking things enough to broaden the appeal in what he’s creating quite significantly.

I’d be looking closely at tracks like “The Assassination Of Kennedy” and “The Assassination Of Garfield” if I was Nowicki.  I still feel like there are noticeable similarities to be found with these tracks and the rest of the lineup, but at the same time, there’s no doubt that these two tracks are the most unique to be found on the record.  I’m inclined to advocate on behalf of both assassination-inspired cuts to be the most recognizable highlights on the album, and I wouldn’t be remotely surprised if that was the conclusion that the majority of us came to after having a thorough listen to this album from start to finish.  Look at it this way – the added element of drama serves Dennis very well, and provides at least another thematic dynamic that he can lean on, which gives a song like “The Assassination Of Garfield” have more diverse character, even if the vocal patterns are still following the same script.  Like I was saying earlier, sometimes it becomes all about the littlest details when you’ve got a boatload of similarities in a larger sample size, and with respect to that, “The Assassination Of Garfield” can’t help but stand out from the rest.  So yeah man…I’d be looking at tracks like this as the blueprint forward.  I don’t think it’s simply due to a more compelling story, though I would definitely admit that helps.  To me, it’s more of a matter of a wider range of what could appeal to listening ears here, whether it’s the core concept & theme, or the more diverse range of sound in the music…Dennis puts himself in a better position to make an impact on people tuning into this record by what he’s doing on this particular tune.

You could look at my comments on “The Presidents Greatest Achievements” regarding what might be debated amongst historians, and flip’em around for “The Presidents Biggest Mistakes,” just like Dennis has done to highlight their wrongs instead of rights for the finale of this record.  Look…I’m not saying that I haven’t learned the occasional cool fact or two along the way by listening to this record – I’m sure that I have…I’ll probably conjure up a date or a fact or something strange I’ve learned about what the presidents liked to eat later on down the road, and I’ll smile because I’ll remember how I learned it and that Dennis was the one to teach me.  While I’d personally tell him there’s a ton of room for him to refine and evolve this overall idea much further than he currently has it presented to us, I’d also tell ya in the same breath that this is actually a really good first couple steps with it.  Everything has to start somewhere, right?  And yes, like I’ve also pointed out, I know this ain’t his first run through with this kind of idea…but these five albums I know of, have all come out in the span of roughly three years, and that is absolutely the earlier side of an artist’s career in the grand scheme of things.  So…I’m willing to believe that Dennis could still find a way to morph this concept into a way that would be able to be absorbed by the masses, but I do think that’s gonna come with a lot more experimentation and choosing to go in different directions than the safer ones he’s chosen here, or what’s more familiar to him.  The more he branches out in that regard…the more he establishes differences in all aspects of each song from the music to the microphone…the more the information he’s relating to us will be able to sink in, and the more we’ll remember it all from track to track.  As of right now, he’s got a decent album and a unique idea to work with…but I’m more looking forward to hearing where he could take it from here.

Find out more about Dennis Lee Nowicki from his official channel at YouTube here:  https://www.youtube.com/@Cenapsis

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