The album opens with "See For Yourself," a song with a steady beat and a great rock energy, with elements of folk rock, in the same general realm as some of Bob Dylan's full-band work, perhaps heard most in that wonderful work on keys. "Well, I've been poor, but I ain't ever been rich/And I've been dug, but I ain't ever been ditched." I love that word play. Plus, this track features some really good stuff on guitar. "Been living out west too long and I've grown soft/This rolling stone is now covered in moss/You had to see, see for yourself, just like everybody else." This song was written by Lee Briante. Tyler Whiteside plays drums on this one. The band changes gears then with "Joshua Tree," which has a sweeter, gentle sound, with an intimate quality to the lead vocals, plus some really nice backing vocal work (at one point reminding me of We Are The West). "I went to the desert to be alone/Turned out that I had brought the whole world along/'Cause I've never seen anything/That didn't only take place in my brain." This is a song that celebrates that area, Twentynine Palms and Yucca Valley. I haven't yet spent any significant time out that way, through there are some well-known music venues out there. The Mekons just played a gig out there on Thursday. I mention them here because Mekons bass player Dave Trumfio mixed and mastered this album. This song is one of my personal favorite tracks. It contains a great guitar lead in the second half, and Jerry Borge provides some additional work on keys.
"In the light of the day, I will still feel okay/Pretending that everything is fine," they tell us at the beginning of "These Lies." The music tells us it might be a struggle, that things are less than fine. There is a great, sad beauty to this song, particularly to the vocal work. What a moving vocal performance! There is some really nice work on organ too. "And when the light of the day slowly gives way/I need something, I need something, I need something to call mine." This is another of the disc's highlights. It was written by Robert Black. The Hollywood Horns join the group on this track, and Andrew Smith plays drums. "I tell myself, I tell myself these lies each night to go on." Then "Hope I Don't Bleed" has something of a Dylan vibe. More recent Dylan, that is, like "Things Have Changed," that sort of vibe. It begins with a good beat, and has the feel of a dark country road, one leading us on a journey through a vast and unknown or at least unseen space, death lurking on both sides of the road, as well as ahead. "Yeah, I hope I am sleeping when I die/So I don't have to see that girl of mine crying." This is such a cool track, and it features a fantastic lead on guitar. That's Dave Alvin, so it should come as no surprise that it's fantastic. "Well, I hope I hear music when I die/Some horns, some flutes, maybe a choir." Oh yes! This is one of my favorite songs, not just of this album, but of the year.
"A Soft Place To Land" eases in, like a voice in the distance approaching, floating toward us. Then it kicks in, with a wonderful, slow folk and country sound. "If I come over tonight, tell me everything will be all right." We all need that, don't we? For we are all in the dark, trying to figure this thing out, and mostly failing. But failing together is so much better than failing alone. "If I could find my way to your front door/I wonder if you'd let me in/I know you said so many times before/I need a place where I can start again." Yes, yes, yes! We could all use a soft place to land, especially in these uncertain, unfamiliar days. "A Soft Place To Land" is followed by "Meet Me Where We Parted Last." There is a good energy to this one, with a rock vibe. And check out these lyrics: "Well, I can't recall the future, but I can predict the past/Won't you meet me where we parted last." And this track features horns. That's Nic Chaffee.
Here are the first lines of "Happy Now": "Everyone we used to know is gone/Packed it all in, and just stopped trying/Short on money, out of luck and barely hanging on/Seems like our whole damn world is dying." These opening lines really hit me, for just before I put this album on for the first time, I learned of another friend and musician deciding to leave Los Angeles for good. People are fleeing the city for one destination or another, and I'm worried I might have to go too sometime soon. We're all barely hanging on. Yet there is some determination heard here, as in these lines: "Things might be bad, but I'll find a way/To make it up to you somehow, someday/Don't know how we ever kept it together for so long/When everything I try and do is wrong." I wonder just how long it will be before we can all say, "Hey, hey, we're all happy now." And if doing it right now will change reality enough to make it true. Then "For The Birds" begins with some pretty work on guitar. "If I was a car, I would not start/Just sit on the lawn collecting leaves and missing parts/Friends and neighbors say, 'ain't that a shame'/It's the years of neglect that are to blame." Katie Stratton joins the band on vocals on the lines "Our love is a song that we no longer sing/Forgot the words and most of the melody/And if I asked you to, I bet you'd probably say/Singing's just for birds anyway," making those lines even sadder somehow. They are sadder because both people feel that way, yet still are together.
"People just want you to let them be," Lee Briante sings at the beginning of "In Your Own Time." This one has a good energy and a cheerful vibe. It's partly in that rhythm, working to raise our spirits. This is a positive, hopeful song, and it's over a little too soon. Jeffrey Howell joins the band on piano on "Better Days," delivering some wonderful work and helping to set the tone. There is a sort of honky tonk element to the work on keys. "Praying for sunshine, I only see rain/Turn on the TV, and it's bad news again/All of the good times belong in the past/Nothing today is ever meant to last." Those opening lines speak to us, uniting us in our misery. We all want to live in better days. What's also interesting is that the song looks forward to a time when perhaps we'll look back at these days, reevaluate them, and consider them the best days ever. Of course, that might mean that things are only going to get worse, and that these days will seem great by comparison. A frightening and depressing thought. But the music of this song makes me think that won't be the case. Am I foolish for holding onto some optimism? "I want to live in better days." Amen to that.
An alarm clock goes off at the beginning of "Miss Me Too." And guess what time it is in the song? "Now it's 4 a.m.," he sings, that magical time in music, a time when so many songs take place. But then he finishes that first line by singing, "Or maybe it's 3," and follows that with, "Forgot to change the clocks again/Well, shame on me," an unexpected and playful twist on that special time (seriously, 4 a.m. is mentioned more often in songs than any other time). This track has a good feel to it. "Are you dreaming?/I've been dreaming too." The alarm returns at the end. The album then concludes with "Over The Hill," which alludes to Sisyphus in its opening lines. This is a sweet number, in John Prine territory, and features some nice work on harmonica. "Over the hill doesn't seem so bad/With the hard work over, the free ride can be had/Now I'm getting on/That's just how it goes/In the evening you're young/By the morning you're old." This song is another of the disc's highlights. Yeah, songs about aging have been speaking more strongly to me in recent years. Wonder why that is. But with music like this, we can all face it, face what comes.
CD Track List
- See For Yourself
- Joshua Tree
- These Lies
- Hope I Don't Bleed
- A Soft Place To Land
- Meet Me Where We Parted Last
- Happy Now
- For The Birds
- In Your Own Time
- Better Days
- Miss Me Too
- Over The Hill
No comments:
Post a Comment