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Reviews of A Thing So Real

FAME Review March 2004
Capital News December 2003

Reviews of Exact Change

Rambles Review February 2003
Soundbytes Review October 2002
Sing Out! Review Spring 2001
ParenTime Review January 2001
FAME Review Dec 2000
VOICES Review Dec 2000

A review written for the Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange (FAME)
by Roberta B. Schwartz

It is always a pleasure to hear something new from Sandy Cash, who opens up a window to her adopted land of Israel. A native of Detroit, Cash has been living with her family in Israel for the past eighteen years.

A Thing So Real is Cash's second studio recording. Like some of the best performers in the musical theater, she moves easily from the classic torch song to a comedic song and everything in between. She has the kind of voice - an alto with a lovely upper range - that is so easy to listen to that you won't want to remove her CD from your player even after it's ended. But more importantly, she writes great songs - both those that come from the heart and those that tell a story.

One of the recording's best cuts is Giorgio Perlasca, which tells the moving story of an Italian Christian living in Budapest during World War II. To avoid being sent to a labor camp, he sought out the Spanish diplomat to Hungary, Angel Sanz-Briz, who was known for issuing life saving Spanish passports to persecuted Jews. Soon after, Sanz-Briz fled Hungary, but Perlasca took on his name and role in his stead, eventually saving 3,500 Hungarian Jews from deportation and death. Cash's skilled storytelling and delivery bring it to life.

Songs of love and family abound. The opening tune, This Love is Only for You, is a beautiful love song. Stranger With One Heart speaks to the growing child within. But it is Cash's sense of humor that draws us in every time. In The Boy Next Door she finds a pied piper for her kids who leaves her time for herself - to chat with girlfriends and cuss all she wants. Cash pokes fun at her therapist abandoning her for a summer vacation in The Madlibs Song, based on the book of fill-in-the-blanks exercises popular in the Sixties. It will leave you laughing and perhaps identifying with the songwriter's plight. Survival of the Fittest plays with Darwin's theory of evolution with great fun and wit. I love this song!

It is clear from her music that Sandy Cash lives a life full of heart and love, and a lot of humor. Unlike many of her peers, there is something for everyone in her music. There is a universality in her style and in her message that is so appealing that it crosses all kinds of barriers. Who would have guessed that a child of Detroit, living a life in a place of continuing conflict as an adult, would know so much and still have a heart and a voice that speaks to all of us. It is good to laugh, to think and to love along with Sandy Cash. May she continue bringing her music to us for many years to come!

Copyright 2004, Peterborough Folk Music Society and Roberta B. Schwartz.

Capital News Review
by Keren-Ami Armon, Jerusalem

Those of us who have been lucky enough to be listening to Sandy Cash singing folk music for years have a special treat ahead of us.

Sandy's specialty has always been dramatic, thought-provoking songs. She brings her audiences into her music provoking both laughter and tears.

The taste that Sandy gave us on her first CD may have a chance of being satisfied now with the debut of her second CD, A Thing So Real. Once again Sandy has brought us a CD full of humor and poignancy. This time entirely her own music.

Every woman who has ever been pregnant can identify with her song Strangers With One Heart. The song will bring tears to your eyes when you remember the feeling of the little one inside you.

Every mother can identify with the harried, hassled mother in The Boy Next Door. With tears of laughter, you wish you too had a "boy next door."

Cash's song Giorgio Perlasca brings us to a time of bitterness, into the heart of a man who did what he thought was right, thereby saving the lives of thousands of Jews during World War II.

And no song matches the power of The Children's Brigade as we watch youngsters not yet out of school march to the tune of martyrdom and jihad.

Sandy Cash has fulfilled her self-appointed job as folk "ambassador" to the Middle East, and not only has brought the music of others such as Christine Lavin, Susan Werner, Dar Williams and John Forster to our attention, she has joined their ranks as a talented songwriter in her own right.

A Rambles CD Review
by Nicky Rossiter, Ireland

The world is certainly both contracting and exploding in unison. Exact Change, produced in Jerusalem, takes some very simple songs, often based on highly personal and mundane matters, and gives them an international dimension.

It has often been said of literature that local issues are the ones that best translate to an international audience. Sandy Cash proves that the same applies to songs.

"Nine Gold Medals" is a beautiful song telling a simple story based on a race at an athletics meeting. It is an uplifting tale of the reality of sport. Unfortunately, it only applies to that great event of the Special Olympics rather than sport in general. It has special significance as I listen today because this magnificent event takes place in Ireland in 2003.

Cash has a very distinctive voice and from the array of songs and writers on this CD she is open to all manner of influence. The track "Bye Bye Future" is a tragic-comic tale of childhood hopes and fears sung in a childlike voice that fits perfectly. The story-song motif continues at breakneck speed on "Orange Cocoa Cake."

I was surprised to hear "Kilkelly" performed on a CD produced in Israel, but it was a genuinely pleasant surprise as Cash gives a heartfelt rendition of what must be one of the most comprehensive famine emigration songs of Ireland. At just under eight minutes, this is one of the epic songs of the genre but it holds the listener's attention throughout.

The CD takes some of the most unexpected twists and turns. Who has ever recorded a folk song about a visit to the dentist? Cash does this with nice lyrics and some very witty asides -- ouch that drill sound sets my teeth on edge -- on "Root Canal of the Heart."

She shows her songwriting ability on two tracks. My personal favourite is the title track, "Exact Change."

This is a lovely collection of songs, which she freely divulges was culled from many sources including the Internet. She very kindly includes the websites of the writers whose songs she uses. This CD shows the universality of folk music as it provides contemporary American folk music, collected globally, recorded in Israel and reviewed in Ireland. Now you can enlarge the connection by getting hold of this CD and listening to a collection of gems.

A Soundbytes CD Review
by Bob MacKenzie, Canada

One definition of folk music might be that it's the music that emigrants carry with them from their old homelands and that sustains their identity as they become established in their new homes. This may be the definition that best fits the music of Sandy Cash, an American expatriot who has lived half her life in Israel. Certainly, in her publicity, Cash defines herself as "a new voice in folk music" and refers to her listeners as "folk fans." The songs she sings tell compelling stories and in that sense may also be defined in some loose sense as folk songs. To be accurate, however, the performances of Sandy Cash belong more properly within the realm of American musical theatre.

Cash is an interpreter of songs, and a fine one at that. Only two of the songs on this release were written by Cash. The rest were clearly selected for their sense of story and for the power of their telling. Given the wide variety of material from which she could have chosen, Cash demonstrates a finely honed instinct for excellent writing and for stories certain to move an audience.

Cash has a powerful voice and an evocative, theatrical vocal style. This is not the voice or style we would usually associate with a folk singer. Rather, Cash has the power and broad interpretive style of a Bette Midler or Barbra Streisand or, in earlier years, perhaps Ethel Merman or Martha Rae. This is big, open performance that is as much acting as it is singing.

"Kilkelly" is the song on Exact Change that most has the sound and feel of a folk song. Through a series of letters, Peter Jones' moving lyric evokes a powerful image of a lifetime in Ireland during the hard times of the Nineteenth Century. The instrumental backing, while full in sound, is pulled back and marches along to a traditional rhythm. Cash imparts a plaintive, mournful sense to the words she sings, bringing the listener a deep-felt sorrow.

David Roth's "Nine Gold Medals" is an equally moving song in a whole different sense and has a very positive message for each of us as we move through life. This is a song about community and sharing and helping one another through whatever we might face. The writing is powerful and the interpretation Cash gives it could bring tears to many listeners' eyes.

Like "It's Hard to be Humble" for sports fans, Roth's "The Star Spangled Banner and Me" recounts the experience of performing the national anthem before a crowd who could really care less who he is. It's a very funny story, well written and, as interpreted by Cash, well performed. This is also one of the most theatrical performances on this release.

While the audience applause sounds on Roth's song seem appropriate to the performance, the dentist drill sound effect on Camille West's "Root Canal of the Heart" is mostly just irritating, and this very funny song would work just as well without it. I suspect the problem is not that the sound was used but that it's just too high in the mix.

In the name of the title song, there's a deeper pun than the one on the name of Sandy Cash. The song plays around the idea that we cannot simply wait for change to happen but must exact it even though there may be costs associated with doing so. Of the two Cash songs on this release, "Exact Change" especially demonstrates that she has a way not just with interpreting the stories of others but also with writing and performing her own.

Exact Change is an interesting artifact: music which is clearly American springing up in the middle east. However, this is music which, in its stories, transcends borders and cultures and resonates not just in the hearts of American expatriots but in anyone who can truly hear its human stories. Sandy Cash has a very special gift, that more than a singer, she is an excellent storyteller.

A Sing Out! CD Review
by Angela Page

Sandy's combined interests and talents have led her to merge into a unique slot in the folk music world...It's obvious that Cash has an ear for a quality song... Israelis are fortunate to be able to hear these good writers in a live musical setting, sometimes thousands of miles away from their source.

A ParenTime Review
MyParenTime.com

Sandy Cash has such an angelic voice! What a wonderful and unique sound she's sharing with us!

Her debut album, "Exact Change", is filled with an artistic blend of folk music and creative story-telling. Her lyrics are about parenting and family, and she sings them with such feeling - what a pleasure to listen to such a collection of musical originality!

Music brings out all different types of emotions, and there is definitely something about Sandy's music that will touch your emotions. My ParenTime highly recommends "Exact Change", Sandy Cash's debut album. Her unique sound is bound to touch an emotion in everyone, as it has touched us.

A review written for the Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange (FAME)
by Roberta B. Schwartz

All of us have had moments, and sometimes even days, when we question "does life have to be so tough?" It is at these times that we look toward music to lift us out of these moods; to take us far away from these dark and dispirited feelings.

I wish I had Sandy Cash's CD Exact Change at hand every time a dark cloud crossed my sky. It is fun, playful, witty and wise. And it comes from out of the land of Israel, proving that acoustic music is alive all over the world.

Sandy Cash has one of those voices that is hard to describe as it dips into the alto range, yet reaches up in to the higher ranges with ease. She has a lovely, expressive voice with a great deal of warmth and color. She sings as if the audience is full of family and friends - as if she knows us well.

On her recording Exact Change, Cash sings nine covers and two of her own compositions. Her themes are down to earth, revolving around family, children and the foibles of everyday life.

The opening track, Nine Gold Medals, is a delightful tribute to the Special Olympics, written by David Roth. It tells the story of how one of the young athletes stumbles and falls in a running event, and how the eight other runners stop to help him, join hands and finish together.

Pirates Bounty is a lullabye penned by Cash. Beautifully performed with voice and accompanying guitar, it is simple and lovely. There are many nice metaphors here about life and how your children often surpass your own accomplishments.

One of the standout tunes is a cover of You're Aging Well that would make Dar Williams proud.

My favorite cut is Kilkelly, by Peter Jones. It tells the story of an Irish family's hardships in a series of letters beginning in the year Eighteen-sixty. The vocal is very sad and moving, made particularly so by Cash's accompaniment on the English concertina. It is almost eight minutes in length, but well worth listening to through the last note. It is the highlight of the recording.

Cash also covers humorous songs by Camille West and Cosy Sheridan, as well as Lou and Peter Berryman.

Sandy Cash has produced a recording well worth seeking out. Acoustic music is live and well in Israel in the hands of Cash. The world of music is certainly a far happier and funnier place with Sandy Cash in it.

Copyright 2000, Peterborough Folk Music Society and Roberta B. Schwartz.

Making a Difference -- Bringing Light to Yesha on Chanukah
VOICES, Volume 4, Issue 12, December 2000
By Davida Nugiel

While many performers have cancelled their engagements in Yesha since Rosh Hashanah, others feel that especially now is the time for performers to visit the communities of Yehuda, Shomron and Gaza and lift their spirits. When his mega-concert was cancelled in Chevron for Chol HaMoed Sukkot, singing superstar Mordechai Ben David went to Chevron anyway and performed for the residents. When Yehoram Gaon's band cancelled the singer-city councilman's concert in Efrat, veteran singer Chanan Yovel came instead. During a terrific performance to more than 600 Efrat residents, Chanan called on all his fellow performers to come and bring joy to the residents of Yesha

During Chanukah, folksinger Sandy Cash will give a benefit performance in Efrat to show her solidarity with the community and help raise funds for the repair of the community's Tiferet Avot synagogue, which was vandalized last month by Arabs. The concert (in English) is set for Wednesday evening, December 27, the seventh night of Chanukah, at the Efrat Community Center.

Sandy told Voices, When I heard about the attack on the Tiferet Avot Synagogue, and the fact that residents of Gush Etzion -- my family among them -- couldn't get out of their homes in the evening to travel to Jerusalem, I decided that I wanted to perform in Efrat -- to do a benefit for Tiferet Avot, and to lighten the load.

Instead of leaving Efrat for entertainment, the entertainment is coming to them, Sandy said.

Sandy's folksong cabaret-type performance is aimed at Efrat;s women and girls. ;My music focuses on childhood, motherhood and the emotional journey between the two. While her concert might be described as ;stand-up comedy with guitar, some of Sandy;s folksongs are quite serious.

Originally from Oak Park, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, folksinger Sandy Cash made Aliyah in 1987. A resident today of Beit Shemesh, Sandy has received tremendous praise for her recent CD, Exact Change, which she completed this summer. Produced by Mitch Clyman, a brilliant musician and resident of Efrat, Exact Change is a real treat, and many of the numbers from the CD are sure to be played at the Efrat performance.

My kids and I actually ;spent the summer with Sandy Cash. Every time we got into the car for a weekly trip, the first words out of the kids; mouths were ;put in Sandy Cash. As the tape of folksongs came across the air, all five of us sang, and it was not long before we all knew the words and sang them as we drove along.

The songs in her CD, Exact Change, cover a vast array of subjects and emotions, and were the center of many insightful conversations, as we covered scores of kilometers across the country. As all good folksongs are meant to do, this collection speaks to the hearts and the minds of real people.

The incredibly touching song ;Nine Gold Medals tells of a special ;Special Olympics (athletic competition for the disabled). It led to the discussion of how we are all different and how someone who we see as ;damaged can in actuality be so ;complete as to have true empathy.

The painfully sad ;Kilkelly is a ballad of longing of a father for his son, a longing that lasts a lifetime. This song always makes tears appear in my eyes, and gives my kids a keener understanding of the pain I still feel over the childhood loss of my parents.

;Pirate;s Bounty had us all exchanging views and thinking about what it means to believe in someone -- to them and to ourselves (a heady discussion to openly have with your children -- if you are brave enough).

;Orange Cocoa Cake is a masterpiece appreciated by women everywhere who have ever had or tried to have a phone conversation with their children interrupting every moment. A single friend of mine told me that the song depicts exactly what it sounds like when trying to converse with a Mom. The list goes on but I will leave a few surprises for you

The delightful collection of songs Sandy Cash chose for her first album would fall short of its incredible appeal if not delivered by the strength, clarity and warmth of her gifted voice. Sandy can make a song hop with fun, tear at your heart, make you feel incredibly winsome or full of longing. Her humor and joy is apparent in the delivery, and Sandy;s CD, Exact Change is certain to please folksong fans everywhere, as well as add to some thoughtful moments.

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