The album opens with “To Feel The Sun,” which kicks in with a bright force. The first line of the song (and thus the album) is a question, “Where do you go when I feel so lonely?” It is the first of several questions, something that feels right. We all have questions these days, don’t we? So much is uncertain. But the music here offers something we can be sure of, with elements of 1960s folk rock, particularly in some of the guitar work. “There’s a place that you go where I can never find you/It’s where the glory goes to be the wanted one/And everything grows, there’s nothing to remind you/Of the ghosts you know, so it’s where you go to feel the sun.” There is ultimately something positive in the sound of this one. We all need those places, don’t we? Often we can find those places within music. That’s followed by “The Last Time.” There is a more somber sound as this one starts, for a brief moment I am reminded of “Rain” from Dream 6. “Time is short, the scene is set/In the end, it’s your face I can’t forget.” This is a compelling song, with a strong atmosphere. “Dreams go on, nightmares too/Do not fear, they are the same for me and you.” Yes, these guys create some excellent lyrics, and each of the songs on this album has lines that stand out, such as this line: “Set a fire to the fortress that we made.” I also really like the bass line. This song builds in intensity toward the end.
“Speedway,” which as I mentioned was released as a single, is a seriously good pop number inspired by a race at the Cedar Lake Speedway in Wisconsin, and for a brief moment the track includes the sound of cars and an announcer at the speedway. This track has such an interesting sound, for there is something dark here, and yet it is also fun, and is a love song of sorts. “Is there a speedway into your heart/Or is there loneliness, a world turn apart at the seams/You look so good in those jeans.” The lyrics also contain a play on that line you might have heard from time to time about the colors of the U.S. flag never running, with them singing “Red, white and blue – these colors never run away from you,” a slight pause after the word “run.” This track features special guests Steve Gorman and Amy Spartz. Then “Raylene” is a song of goodbye, with some striking images and phrases, such as “An angel in a guillotine” and “Castles painted tangerine.” The lyrics also mention “Eulogies can conjure up the memories,” and the song itself is a sort of eulogy. This track features some beautiful backing vocal work by members of the See Change Treble Choir. There is also some really nice guitar work. This song at moments seems able to cross over and bring something back from whatever afterlife might exist, maybe an answer or two. It ends with the message or instruction, “Learn to love.” It couldn’t be clearer, could it?
The album’s sole cover is good rendition of The Grass Roots’ “Temptation Eyes” that eases in with a haunting feel. There is power, and also a yearning, in Jeff Arundel’s lead vocal performance. This track also contains a moving guitar lead and some interesting backing vocal work. Pat Nelson, Jeff Victor and Daniel Murphy provide those harmony vocals. That’s followed by “Sad Burlesque,” an intriguing song. There is a dreamlike quality to it, and an uneasiness. We find ourselves caught up in the narrator’s unusual thought line, and so we step out of ourselves and into his world. “We’ll go dancing again to the voices inside of my head/Maybe come around here and watch me convalesce/Shoot out the lights at our sad burlesque.” And those final sad notes on the piano leave me wondering about the guy’s current state. It seems fitting for a rather haunting instrumental track to follow, and the band gives us “Three On A Match,” a piece that seems to take place just before twilight, with a wind moving across the land. Yet this time we feel we can watch it, and not get caught in it if we’re careful. We are able to step back and view the landscape. This track was composed by Daniel Murphy. Jeff Victor is on keys.
There is a haunting feel to the opening moments of “Great Again” too, on keys, yet it feels more personal, a song emerging from memory. Check out these lyrics: “What kind of path does someone take/When there’s a sadness that permeates/Sad blue eyes staring at the floor/You seem so ill at ease.” As with all of this band’s songs, there are many lines that stand out, such as “You hate the circus, but you love the clowns,” a line that surprises us, in part because many people feel the opposite. This track features some beautiful work on violin. I love the way this one builds, as other voices join in, the song becoming less personal, more universal, and more solid. Then it surprises us again just before the ending, with some rather lonesome work on piano. That’s followed by the album’s title track, another song of goodbye, though a different sort of goodbye. Check out these lines: “The heat never looked so good as it did on you/And even then I could tell, you were halfway down the hill/A sweet collage of black and blue.” This one was written by Jeff Arundel, and it contains some nice work on keys, particularly during the lead.
The album concludes with “End Of Summer,” which was written by Daniel Murphy, Jeff Arundel and Pedro Mariani. Its first line, “Time’s a jet plane,” comes from Bob Dylan’s “You’re A Big Girl Now,” and just as we expect to hear something about it moving too fast, these guys surprise us by singing “Delayed at a gate,” taking the line in a totally different direction and thus changing our expectations about where this song will take us. And this is a song about changes. “The summer’s gone and so are we.” This line also stands out: “The things you can’t imagine become the times you can’t explain.” Wow, that is a line for our times, isn’t it? And the line “Temptations never tasted” provides an unexpected link back to the Grass Roots song. There is also a beauty to this track, heard especially in the vocal work.
CD Track List
- To Feel The Sun
- The Last Time
- Speedway
- Raylene
- Temptation Eyes
- Sad Burlesque
- Three On A Match
- Great Again
- El Camino Adiós
- End Of Summer
El Camino Adiós is scheduled to be released on March 14, 2025. The band will hold its album release party that night at Aster House in Minneapolis.
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