David Udell opens with album with “Watching The Freak Parade.” “Are you in this thing or just watching/The freak parade?” he asks at the beginning. Don’t we all wish we could step out of it? It often feels like a horror show that we are witnessing. And check out these lines, which follow those first couple: “This could be Utopia, but just look at this mess we’ve made/Culture war porn in an echo chamber metaverse.” Yup, that about sums it up, doesn’t it? What happened to us as a country? What happened to us as people? We’ve turned into ignorant, angry monsters. How much do social media sites deserve the blame? “You grow up fast, you grow up mean/You learn to juggle the obscene.” This is a heavy subject, but the guitar work rocks, and there is some humor too, as he sings just before the end: “I’d like to try that again/I can do it with feeling this time.” That’s followed by “It’s Beginning To Look Like Rain,” which has a pretty vibe as it starts. Margaret Bianchetta adds some beautiful work on flute, and also joins David on vocals. Dominic Schaeffer is on keyboards. “We pour it all down the drain/It’s beginning to look like rain/A social muse shapes world views/Disheartening news lays waste to you.” These early lines also stand out: “America’s gone insane/It’s beginning to look like rain/So raise a glass to memories of dreams coming true.” Perfect, right? Toasting to what we recall of the past, or of the future promised by the past. Remember that future? Where did it go? I’ve tried to step away from the news for the last week or two, and it has helped my personal sanity. And there is an optimistic sense before the end, as he sings, “Raise a glass to revelry, to dreams coming true/And knowing you.” Yes, yes, yes, that’s the key, at least for me, focusing on personal relationships and keeping our dreams alive together. This track ends with rain sound effect. Jackie Niebylski plays bass on this track, and Mike Long is on drums.
“Slow Song” has a cool vibe from the start, and features some really nice work on guitar. Often a song that moves at a slower pace isn’t as catchy as this one, and the pace works well with the lyrics, such as these early lines: “I’m so naïve/I still, I still believe/Hope is a sedative, you know.” And in the next line he admits, “Okay, I’m slow,” and then he offers the possibility that he’s wrong. And perhaps that is part of the reason for the slow pace. Reality is exhausting, arguing is exhausting. Who wants to continue on that trajectory for long? “I’ve been wrong before, you know.” This track features a good bass line. Fellow Delay Tactics members Walter Whitney and Carl Weingarten join him on modular synth and slide lead guitar respectively. Monica Reed joins him on vocals. As it ends, it is like church bells are perhaps signaling a new day. This is one of my personal favorite tracks. That is followed by “The Motion Song.” This is the one older song on the release, Dave Udell revisiting a Wax Theatricks song from 1980 (though I’m not sure what record it was originally included on, if any). It’s a short track.
“Our River” has a good groove. The lines that grabbed me the first time I listened to this track are these: “Drifting with the current, who cares where it’s taking us/A dream we’re in with each other, and a stupid world isn’t waking us.” I love that idea of the world not touching them within their dream. It all has a positive vibe, and so we are surprised as we begin to sense trouble, and the final line is “Guess it’s time I should forgive her,” delivered in perhaps a more thoughtful way. The music then swells again, offering hope and joy. Then the next track, “Solid Ground,” begins with him singing, “I am wide awake.” This one has a gentle and contemplative vibe as it begins, and features some nice work on acoustic guitar, with Margaret Bianchetta delivering beautiful stuff on flute. Then after approximately forty-five seconds, it kicks in, though the pretty work on flute continues. David asks, “When does the money come in?/When does the wisdom kick in?/When will the world come around?/When will be on solid ground?” I’m now in my fifties (holy moly, how did that happen?) and I find myself asking these very questions. Shouldn’t these things have occurred already? Perhaps there is no solid ground to be had. And, regarding the album’s title, Margaret sings, “Loving people make it worth it/Loving people makes it worth it.” I appreciate the distinction between the two lines; the first is about them, the second is on you. The song ends as it began, with him singing, “I am wide awake,” this time a cappella.
Perhaps some answers have come, or at least an acceptance of a lack of answers, for in “Made My Peace,” he sings, “Made my peace with the darkness that’s in us all.” Aren’t we all trying to do that very thing? Tracy Wynkoop plays bass on this track, Dominic Schaeffer is on alto saxophone, Jack Spann is on clavinet, and Mike Long is on drums. I love the way this song builds toward the end. Interestingly at one point, he asks, “Was it worth it?” That song is followed by one titled “Is It Worth It?” This song’s title is a question that some of us have been asking lately. “I watch the end of days and wonder what the hell we're thinking/Then tip the band to play on while the ship is sinking/And get back to drinking.” I think we can all relate to those opening lines, and to that desire. “Is there reason anywhere?/Is there even any reason you should care?/For the love of God/Is it worth it?” But of course we know the answer to the question, for it’s in the album’s title.
Walter Whitney returns on modular synth on “Unexplored Expanses,” a cool track that is mostly about the atmosphere that is created at the start. Jack Spann is on clavinet, and Carolyn Udell is on vocals. Then toward the end, as a rock groove comes in, the one line that catches us is, “Make it worth it,” the answer before the answer of the final track. That final track is the album’s title track, “It’s Worth It,” which opens with some pretty work on guitar that has a soothing effect. David offers this advice in the song’s first lines: “You might lie awake embittered by the senselessness/Don’t let the noise drown out what you believe in.” This is a song for those of us who have been paying attention and are getting discouraged. Margaret Bianchetta, Dominic Schaeffer, Monica Reed, Chloe Udell, Dylan Udell, and Valerie Pennington joins him on vocals on this one. “Hold on my friend, it’s worth it.”
CD Track List
- Watching The Freak Parade
- It’s Beginning To Look Like Rain
- Slow Song
- The Motion Song
- Our River
- Solid Ground
- Made My Peace
- Is It Worth It?
- Unexplored Expanses
- It’s Worth It
It’s Worth It was released on June 18, 2024, and is available on both CD and vinyl.
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