"Desperation" by Ambler's Rick Denzien Climbs to top of Internet music charts

There's a revolution shaking the music industry. And at the heart of the heat is Ambler producer, songwriter and recording artist Rick Denzien, music rebel and one of the chief beneficiaries of the fight.

Never heard of Rick Denzien? Shame on you. You soon will.

Have you access to the web? As you read these lines, his dynamic song "Desperation" sits atop two www.mpulse.com internet music charts simultaneously. The opening track of his equally popular CD, "Exit 21" (recorded at Ambler's Slot One Entertainment Studio), "Desperation" has shot to the top of both the Alternative Rock Chart and the Top Song Chart.

Just because other artists on the chart are named Dog Day Sunrise, Voodoo Sex Stuff and Tony Barca with The Cyyclone Rangers & Uptown Horns, you think that's no big deal? How wrong you are.

First of all, by way f explanation, mpulse.com tracks the most popular artists and most listened to songs on the web, including Grammy Award winners, current and legendary artists, as well as up-and-coming regional artists, in every musical genre. According to Denzien, "It's sort of like MTV meets Billboard magazine."

And as we spoke just days ago, Denzien scanned the Top Artists chart on his monitor. Almost as amazed as I was, he read down the list: #1 Britney Spears (averaging 25,000 visits a day); #2 Pearl Jam; #5 TLC; #7 Backstreet Boys; #16 Insane Clown Posse; #25 Hole; #29 Rick Denzien.

No that is not a misprint.

And make no mistake --- since "Exit 21" was released on the Slot One label in March 1999, the web has given Denzien's music unprecedented exposure in record time.

The guerrilla fighter in this war against the music-industry establishment is a digital technology breakthrough called MP3.

Denzien says, "MP3 allows you to receive music on the web in compressed format in a short time. With this revolution, independent artists can put their music on the Net and get it out to the people without the j"filter" of the record labels.

"Since the major record labels have basically locked out independent recording artists," he continues, "without a big budget to market your product, you die in obscurity or do what you can. So what I and other independent artists have decided to do is market our music on the internet."

The subject of a major feature in the current issue of Rolling Stone magazine (July 8 - 22, 1999) --- "World War MP3" by Jeff Goodel --- the phenomenon pits the labels against the artists in the struggle to control the music business.

And Denzien reminds those who haven't been following the fight that even major artists like Prince, George Michael and David Bowie --- who have already made millions for their labels -- are still embroiled in nasty imbroglios over artistic integrity. Company moguls can pick and choose which songs to include or omit, frustrating these top-flight artists and discouraging those lesser lights looking for a way to be heard.

MP3, to the chagrin of the labels, bills itself as "the world's first personal jukebox." And the people have spoken --- loud and clear. And this is music to Denzien's ears.

Denzien, who came to Ambler about 10 years ago at the end of an interminable tour, has a pretty impressive track record. Having taught himself to play guitar and keyboards, he started writing songs when he was 16 years old in his native Buffalo, N.Y. By 1995 he had written his first screen play, "Laser Writing on the Moon," produced by Fred Bauer, including the soundtrack. The title song from that soundtrack won an award from Billboard Magazine.

Denzien also engineered and produced records for Denial, Bloodhound Gang, Wolf Pac and other alternative bands, including roughly 200 at Slot One, the Ambler studio where he's been a partner since 1990. But "Exit 21," with its striking musical hooks and intelligent lyrics is the first Slot One recording to reach the mass public.

On the album, he is ably complemented by drummer Ronnie Crawford, who's also backed Lisa Loeb on Geffen Records; bassist Mike Gregos who's played with the likes of Lenny Kravitz and Neil Diamond; and Philadelphia guest musicians J.J. Zeller on drums, Dave Strong on guitar and Phil Smithburg on bass.

"Exit 21" is distributed by Amazon.com, BMG's GetMusic.com, CDNow.com / MusicBlvd.com, CDBaby.com, CDUniverse.com, CDWorld.com, IUMA.com and is available for purchase through any public radio station nationwide. It's a brave new music world out there, isn't it?

So is all the fuss worth it? You bet. Listen carefully to Denzien's smart, edgy lyrics, filtered through catchy, driving guitar riffs and moody anti-ballads and you'll hear genuine talent. Samples --- from "Desperation": "At least we live in a place with no public executions / Unless you move or koresh your way to oblivion." From the ballad "Father Love": "Can we father love in the new age? / I thought we had a new world order."

"Part of being a songwriter," Denzien says, "is trying to listen to what's going on, and what's really happening to people." So in "Busses" he visits today's headlines by metamorphosing the tale of a friend's lucky impulse to go inside after sitting on his steps, only to hear gunshots cutting down the unlucky soul who happened to pass those steps immediately afterwards during a drive-by. And in the harrowing title track, he gives us a terrifyingly vivid car crash based on the death of his former bass player by a drunken driver along Route 30 near Ephrata.

But listening to Rick Denzien is not all Sturm and Drang. Feelings for his wife Coleen and children, Jamieson (3) and Leah (2), seep through his songs of longing from the endless road that seems, finally, destined to bring Denzien to the fore, through the miracle of the web.

One more story. The thought for the "Exit 21" CD come while he and his band were driving the German Autobahn en route to Switzerland. With no idea where they were, they kept seeing signs for Ausfahrt and assumed it must be a good-sized town. "Wee are flying like 160 miles per hour and here comes another sign for Ausfahrt.... I'm thinking this place must be the size of New York City with all these exit signs."

They never did find the Ausfahrt city limits because Ausfahrt means "exit" in German. He laughed heartily and said the felt pretty stupid when he learned that, but admitted, "But it was pretty funny."

To hear "Desperation" or for more information on Denzien, visit http://www.exit21.net or www.slot-1.com