W&H AMERICAN ROUND-UP - APRIL '06
Pick of the bunch this month are Toronto’s THE AGNOSTIC MOUNTAIN GOSPEL CHOIR and their superbly titled sophomore release, “Fighting & Onions” (7/10, S.A.P. Recordings). It’s a hotch-potch of Waitsian full band arrangements, trampling across backwoods country covers & originals alike, with the occasional Doc Boggs-style solo banjo/guitar and voice ‘vignette’. Of the latter “Bouncin’ Betty” & “Vinegar & Piss” stand out, suitably wracked, cracked and to the point. Of the former trad arr “Look Up Look Down That Lonesome Road” and “Not Too Bad” have a brooding, old-timey magnetism that belies the 21st Century origin of the recordings.
Howlin’ Wolf, The Gourds, Tom Waits on the more raucous cuts of “Mule Variations”, American Music Club’s “Bad Liquor” and the subterranean feel of The Stones’ “I Just Want to See His Face” are all reference points for this reviewer. If there’s a criticism it’s the fact that at times it can all bleed together into a stew of foreboding rustic rumbling. But maybe that’s just what they call atmosphere, a rare enough commodity at times.
A record which could hardly be accused of having the same kind of atmosphere as “Fighting & Onions”, is BRAD COLERICK’s “Cottonwood” (6/10, Back 9 Records). To be fair, Colerick’s album clearly sets out to accomplish something very different to The Agnostics. It’s a sweetly played and solidly produced piece of work, with a bright, clean sound, and Colerick is blessed with a strong, tuneful voice. The trouble is, as a listener, it feels like I slide off the surface of the songs, and never really get to the emotion at their core.
Part of the problem may lie with the lyrics. There are no killer lines here, it’s all fairly standard stuff; a songwriter’s musings on his love and his land, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The melodies are conventional, lilting and undeniably seductive at times, and there is a strong supporting cast to flesh out the tunes. Chris Hillman’s mandolin on “Til Something Better Comes Alight” is a particular delight. Ultimately, it’s one of those where you would have relished the chance to sit in on the jam sessions in the studio backroom, before all the parts were pinned down and polished to a dull sheen at the mixing desk.
Brad Colerick and The Agnostics both travel well worn, if divergent, musical paths, but neither wear their influences on their sleeves quiet as overtly as WILL WEBB. I’d lay good money that Mr Webb has spent fair potions of his time in the company of John Hiatt’s back catalogue, and in particular Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited”. As early as the second cut on “Room to Room” (6/10, Bonnie June Records), which also happens to be the title track, he tells us he’s “aimless like a rolling stone”. A little while later Brother Bill from “Tombstone Blues” makes an appearance on “Ain’t Nobody Home”.
It’s the vocal delivery, at times, and band arrangements that recall John Hiatt, particularly Hiatt's highly recommended 2000 album “Crossing Muddy Waters”, which shares an emphasis on a stripped down semi acoustic in-the-room sound. What sets Hiatt apart is his lyrical edge and knack for original, and at times wryly comic, imagery. Webb, to his credit, does occasionally produce the goods, as on the closing line of his opening track: ‘We’re dancing like Fred Astaire falling down the marble stairs’. However, several times too often “Room to Room” feels like the album Dylan & Hiatt’s shadows pulled together on their days off.
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ROB FALGIANO is this month’s horse of a different colour. “Red” (6/10, Rob Falgiano) to be precise. It’s an eclectic bunch of songs touching on white boy reggae (“Move As One”), power pop Matthew-Sweet-style (“Smiling Through”), melodic countryisms (“A Little Bit of Shake It”) and soft focus singer-songwriter meditation (“That’s The Way It Feels”). Despite the genre-hopping the album feels a little bit generic (if that’s not a contradiction in terms), even samey, perhaps again due to overly slick production values.
Falgiano is lyrically at his best when he stays on his sharp side. How’s this for a first line: “Sometimes it’s nice not to be drunk”. Can’t argue with that. “A Little Bit of Shake It” revels in a spot of Costello-ish bitterness (“A little bit of shake it / a little bit of sweet / a sneer and then a smile / and then you’ve got them at your feet”), and is all the better for it. I don’t foresee myself coming back to this album very often, but it is promising stuff, and it would be good to see Falgiano pick up enough of a following off the back of “Red” to develop his obvious talents. And hire a better producer.
Wooden spoon for April goes to JUBAL LEE YOUNG, who valiantly tries to out-Steve-Earle Steve Earle on “Not Another Beautiful Day” (5/10 Western Beat Entertainment). We’re talking “Copperhead Road”-era Earle, which points to the fact that Young’s album also sounds about 20 years old, and not in a good ‘timeless’ kind of way. The verse melody on the opening (title) track is a dead ringer for Guns ’n’ Roses “Sweet Child O’ Mine”, and there are some crunchy rock riffs scattered elsewhere throughout the album. “Someday” is a slightly more countrified case in point, though unfortunately not quite as good as the Steve Earle track of the same name.
Young shifts down a gear for the occasional power ballad, and you’d have to be a total cynic not to admire and enjoy the sheer wholeheartedness of it all. “I Might Be Crazy (But I Ain’t Lonely)" comes across as an anthem and a personal mission statement, and even goes all Led Zep for ten seconds on the bridge. It’s hard to fault Jubal Lee for trying, and you get the feeling he might be a whole lot of fun kicking up dust live and in person, but all in all “Not Another Beautiful Day” turns out, for the most part, to be just another run-of-the-mill country (rawk) album.
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