Jewish Music Review: OHAD 2 An In-Depth Review

I finally got my copy of Ohad Moskowitz's latest release and I can officially give you my two cents on this album:




Kol Ziman

Composed and Arranged by Moshe Laufer

Vocal Arrangements: Eli Laufer


Intro: The intro has 2 parts: Starts off with a strings and vocals and electric wailing guitar and goes into a more traditional horn arrangement which is disco/frielcach.
This song is pretty solid and I like the horn arrangements with the strong thick guitar rhythm on the low part. It gives a bit of rock feel but over done.

Rating:8

Gedola Shirah

Composed by:Yossi Green:

Arranged by: Groovemates

Vocal Arrangements: Yossi Green

This song is basically a techno tune. They take a lot of real techno ideas by using a real deep vocals ( at about 1:45) some parts feature some real strange ideas almost rap like. It’s a bit interesting but not much I’m afraid.

Rating: 4

Chavivin

Composed by:Ohad & Moshe Laufer

Arranged by: Moshe Laufer

Vocal Arrangements: Yossi Green

Intro starts with what sounds like Ohad and Yossi Green for a second with a twist on the Axel F theme, then features horns and bass guitar a very staccato feel and moves into a disco with a sax. The song starts with vocals by Yossi Green and switches to Ohad with background vocals by Yossi Green. A decent song but the arrangements don’t bring anything new to the table so it’s a bit dull.

Rating:6 ½


Eitz Chaim

Composed by:Ohad

Arranged by: Moshe Laufer

Vocal Arrangements: Yossi Green

This ballad is introduced by a nice piano and string section.
Ohad sings some really low notes on this song and shows off his
wide vocal capability. The song also shows Ohad’s vocal quality and is
nice to listen to and very relaxing.

Rating: 8

Sholom Aleichem

Composed by: Yossi Green

Arranged by: Yuval Stupel

Vocal Arrangements: Mona Rosenblum

Intro is sounds like soundtrack meets 2001 oddessy meets rock. It goes into vocals by Ohad introducing the song with some background vocals backing him. The song takes a quick turn to a Rock/Disco and then into a Hora/Disco. This song likes it would fantastic live would like to have heard Some jamming from the band on this song there is a lot you could with song.

Rating: 7 ½

Oidcho

Composed by: Yossi Green

Arranged by: Ron Tichon

Vocal Arrangements: Ron Tichon

Introduced with heavy guitars and goes into vocals by Ohad.The song has a really nice sound and is moving for a more techno/pop feel. It feels the mix on the high part could have been more clear. The song is very hitting and the background vocals have a lev tahor style. This song sounds great with Ohad those higher notes his sweet spot vocally.

Rating: 8 ½

Veyochon Am

Composed by: Ohad

Arranged by: Groovemates

Vocal Arrangements: Doron Eelimelech

Intro is 2 parts: First techno with Ohad’s vocal then into a sephardic hora feel.The song is a hora with vocals by Ohad and you can see in certain sections he is really pushing for a more Sephardic like style.

Rating: 7

Ekroeko
Composed by: Pinky Weber

Arranged by: Moshe Laufer

Vocal Arrangements: Yossi Green and Eli Laufer



The next ballad on this album featuring acoustic guitar and strings. Ohad is singing in the higher register of his voice. As the song builds he hits even higher notes as the choir does a nice job of backing him. This song might be played at a wedding…

Rating: 9

Oidcho

Composed by: Yossi Green

Arranged by: Ron Tichon

Vocal Arrangements: Ron Tichon

Introduced with heavy guitars and goes into vocals by Ohad.The song has a really nice sound and is moving for a more techno/pop feel. It feels the mix on the high part could have been more clear. The song is very hitting and the backgound vocals have a lev tahor
Style. This song sounds great with Ohad those higher notes his sweet spot vocally.

Rating: 8 ½

Veyochon Am

Composed by: Ohad

Arranged by: Groovemates

Vocal Arrangements: Doron Eelimelech

Intro is 2 parts: First techno with Ohad’s vocal then into a sephardic hora feel.The song is a hora with a vocals by Ohad and you can see in certain sections he is really pushing for a more sephardic style.

Rating: 7

Stop

Composed by: Yossi Green

Arranged by: Ron Tichon

Vocal Arrangements: Ron Tichon

It’s interesting to see Ohad do an english song when most singers are moving away from them as they generally aren’t good and just wasting space for another hit. The intro features clean electirc guitar and keyboard techno bass. This is a very american styled song and has a 70’s/early 80’s pop vibe. I was a bit surprised to hear something that perhaps was reserved for guys like Gershon Veroba. I like this arrangement the lyrics are simple nothing real deep or sophisticated. As the song progesses the background vocals get very sophisticated.

Rating: 8 ½

Neshomela

Lyrics:Yishai Lapidot

Composed by: Yossi Green

Arranged by: Yuval Stupel

Vocal Arrangements: Yuval Stupel

Another Ballad song in hebrew with lyrics from Yishai Lapidot. Ohad sounds better singing hebrew. The song is pleasant and has a very Isreali feel with Ohad singing in ivrit.
There are some interesting chord changes to keep from getting to dull.
Rating: 8

Synopsis: Ohad Moskowitz is one of the better vocalists on the Jewish Music scene. The songs could be a bit more exciting from an arrangement perspective. The songs are written pretty well and I have only heard this album a couple of times so take everything with a grain of salt.