On his eponymous debut for Asylum, Terence Boylan gave the label everything it could possibly have wanted from one of its artists in 1977: confessional singer-songwriter ballads, slick
Steely Dan-style L.A. jazz-pop, Eagle harmonies, and a bevy of L.A. session heavyweights.
Boylan doesn't really offer anything particularly new here, but he is capable of writing tight, catchy, thoughtful California pop. Lyrically, he covers much of your basic singer-songwriter territory (love lost, coming of age, reflection), as well as tales of life in the tropics and even a song about a witch.
Boylan may not quite be in the same class as the cream of Asylum's 1970s crop (
Jackson Browne, the Eagles,
Joni Mitchell), but
Terence Boylan stands up well next to most records of its ilk. ~ Brett Hartenbach