Writing for Allmusic, Mark Deming raves: “Most of the tunes on Brian Olive are rooted in rhythm & blues in one way or another, but the man sure isn’t shy about showing how many ways he can bend the sound to his will; ‘Stealin’’ is a funky New Orleans second-line shuffle, ‘Jubilee Line’ has a bassline James Jamerson would have been happy to call his own fortified with free jazz sax wailing, ‘High Low’ reveals echoes of 1950’s cool jazz for bachelor pads, and ‘Killing Stone’ is a piano-based rocker that recalls the early-’70s Rolling Stones. [Brian] Olive also dips his toes into breezy faux-tropicalia on the light and sensuous ‘Echoing Light’ and some tripped-out acoustic psychedelia on ‘There Is Love’. Olive clearly scores high on the eclecticism checklist, but he’s also a fine songwriter, generating memorable tunes regardless of his stylistic bag. . . . Overall, Brian Olive is an impressive and pleasing solo debut that shows his chops as a producer, arranger, and songwriter make him more than just some Midwest sideman, and he should get back into the studio posthaste if there’s more where this came from.”
(February 2015)
