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Always good to have a touch of class here at the Daily Earworm, and this guy oozes it! It's the Thin White Duke, David Bowie of course, with “Heroes”.

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Who's in the mood for some more of the longest songs you're ever likely to hear? Yeah? Well tough, cos I am! Heh heh! Yes, it's time to venture once again into the world of epics.

And we start off this time with Arena, and their longest (so far as I know) track, coming in at 19 mins 47 seconds, this is “Moviedrome”.


Genesis' longest song is of course “Supper's ready”, but I prefer to go for something a little more recent. This is from their last album with Phil Collins, 1991's “We can't dance”, and with a fairly respectable length of 10:09 it certainly has an epic theme. This is “Driving the last spike.”


Something from Virgin Steele now, from their latest album which is entitled “The black light Bacchanalia” (don't ask me!) it's a track called “To crown them with halos”, and it runs for 11:16.


Bah! I hear you snort! Epics?? These are not epics! Where are the really long songs you promised us, Trollheart? Eh? Tell us that! Well, if you insist... Let's go right back to 1971, to an album by prog rock legends Van der Graaf Generator, called “Pawn hearts”. This track took up the whole of side two (come on, it was the seventies, and only the beginning of those!) and it's split into ten parts, which all go to make up “A plague of lighthouse keepers”. And it comes in at 23:04. Long enough for ya?


Look, I really wanted to feature a Supertramp classic here, I did. But they seem to be as scarce on YT as an honest banker, so at some point I will upload and use one, but for now let me take the opportunity to shoehorn in one of my favourite bands no-one knows and give them another plug. This is Ten, with the title track from their album “The Robe”, a good candidate at 9:07.

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How many more times am I going to start off a review with the admission that I'm not really a fan but...? It seems to happen quite a lot, but I suspect I'm not the only one who would buy an album or two by Band A but is not really into them. Some artistes, of course, I avidly collect all of their material and love just about everything they release, and conversely there are some artistes whose music I am not into and never will be, and would not consider even listening to any of their albums, never mind buying them.

And of couse there's nothing wrong with that. There is no law anywhere that says that once you listen to an album by Band A you have to be into them and get the rest of their catalogue, though generally speaking, most of us probably hope that this will be the effect: a band or singer we have previously ignored or just never listened to will, through the experience of one of their recordings, cause us to change our minds about them forever and become a fan. It has happened: I never listened to Nick Cave prior to hearing “The good son”, after which I bought all his albums. The Divine Comedy was unknown to me until a workmate loaned me “Casanova”, and I was hooked.

But then, in essence, isn't that how most of us get into whatever we're into? Few of us know in advance that we're going to love an album, or an artiste, but either recommendation or exposure via the radio or TV nudges us in their direction and we find we like them. Or don't. Then of course there is the less than scientific approach of buying an album by a new artiste (to us) purely because we like the sound of their name, or their album, or both. A positive result in this manner for me was Lanterns on the Lake's debut, “Gracious tide, take me home” --- I loved both the artiste name and the album title, and was blown away by the album --- and an instance where this approach did not work is in Charred Walls of the Damned's second album, “Cold winds on timeless days”. Like they say, great name, shame about the content. Or something.

All that you can't leave behind --- U2 --- 2000 (Island)


Nerd alert! When I heard the title of this album I immediately thought U2 were ripping off the title of the last ever episode of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”, which is called “What you leave behind”, and had aired the previous year. There is of course no proof to link the two, but it did seem strange to me that, prior to the DS9 episode, I had never heard this phrase before, and suddenly there it was again.

Anyway, leaving that aside, it's the old story, as related above. Although I like and rate U2, and feel justifiably proud that they, an Irish band from the poorer part of Dublin, rose to become mega-famous and indeed one of the biggest bands in the world, I had none of their albums, other than their greatest hits compilation. My sister had “The Joshua Tree” on vinyl (what?) and one of their concerts on VHS (again, what??) but I had none of their music. She of course only had those items because she had a crush on Bono.

But --- and again, I couldn't tell you why --- I decided to go for this one, and not really expecting that it would live up to the hype, I listened somewhat in trepidation that my hard-earned had been squandered when I could have bought something I really wanted. But by the end of the album I was definitely impressed, though as ever I have not been sufficiently affected to actually go out and buy more of their albums. I think it was tracks like “The fly”, “Angel of Harlem” and “Hold me, kiss me, thrill me, kill me” (or whatever it's called, that one from the Batman movie) that began to turn me off U2. I'd enjoyed classic songs like “Still haven't found what I'm looking for”, “Pride”, “The unforgettable fire” and my own personal all-time favourite, “Where the streets have no name”, but when they began experimenting with new styles it turned me off. I know, naïve: bands have to evolve. Hey, I was younger then.

So it was no small thing to find that “All you can't leave behind” is a very solid rock album, with little if any surprises for someone who had grown up on the above songs. It opens with “Beautiful day”, which being the lead single to the album I had already heard. It's a good rocker, with some great drumming from Larry Mullen and the usual class guitar from the Edge, Bono in introspective voice until the chorus when he comes alive, and there are probably few who have not heard the track at least once, not to mention its clever video with them apparently playing on a runway as an airliner takes off, so let's move on to track two.

“Stuck in a moment you can't get out of” is a great semi-ballad, with very much gospel leanings, Bono singing in memory of his good friend Michael Hutchence, INXS lead singer who committed suicide. It's quite keyboard oriented with a strong message of trying to get it together before it's too late, as Bono sings ”Don't say that later will be better/ Now you're stuck in a moment/ That you can't get out of.” A song about recognising the hole you've dug for yourself, or found yourself in, and making plans to dig yourself out before it's too late, it was another single and so again most will be at least familiar with it. Nice brass from Paul Barrett gives the song something of an optimistic feel.

“Elevation” is a little of the more post-rock experimentation U2 had flirted with on previous albums “Pop” and “Zooropa”, with a hard-edged (pun intended) guitar and a sort of stuttering, staccato beat and some lingering dance influences left over from previous albums, but used quite well. Production by the legendary Brian Eno and the equally formidable Daniel Lanois --- both of whom also play on the album --- is sharp and clear, dispelling any cobwebs that might be hanging around after the disappointing “Pop”. Eno and Lanois previously worked with U2 before, of course, on “The Joshua Tree”, “Achtung baby” and “The unforgettable fire”, and surely it's no coincidence that some of their biggest and best-loved hits came from these albums?

There's no actual title track, but the title is mentioned in the opening to “Walk on”, one of the standouts on an album with, to be fair, few if any bad tracks. A tribute to Burmese human rights activist Aung Suu San Kyi, the inclusion of this track irked the authorities there so much that the album was banned in Burma. It's a great half-ballad, with great keyboards paired with just perfect guitar touches from the Edge, Bono in his element as he sings about causes that matter to him, and should matter to us all. One thing I do like about Bono is that although he puts a lot of his politics into his lyrics, it's not forced down your throat like some others try to: it's usually quite subtle (although when he's talking about these issues there's little of subtlety about him, and so there should not be).

The title phrase comes back in for the fadeout ending, as he sings ”All that you fashion/ All that you make/ All that you build / All that you break/ All that you measure / All that you fear/ All this you can leave behind” almost mirroring the lyric in Pink Floyd's “Eclipse” off “Dark side of the Moon”. Another great track is “Kite”, with a slow, lazy guitar and a sort of swaying rhythm, with the guitar getting stronger and more insistent later on in the song, and a really nice solo thrown in too. One nice thing about the Edge is that, despite being one of the world's best-known guitarists, he seldom takes the spotlight for himself: I can honestly say that this is the first solo I've heard from him on the album so far, and even then it's not a big, ostentatious, “look-at-me” type of thing. Very workmanlike, and fits well into the song structure.

For me, the song quality dips slightly then. It does recover before the album ends, but “In a little while” is a weak track in my eyes. It's not terrible, a sparse, blues type of song with a lot of heart, but coming after two powerhouses like “Walk on” and “Kite”, I just feel it falls short of the grade, and “Wild honey” can really only be described as filler, and it also features two subjects I really don't like --- monkeys and honey --- but we're soon back to greatness with the sumptuous “Peace on Earth”, which I felt sure would have been a Christmas number one had it been released, and it should have been, as the album came out in October. But it seems never to have been considered for single release, perhaps because the lyric concerns the Omagh bombing of 1998, making it too much a political hot potato.

Whatever way you view it though --- as an honest appeal for peace or as a bitter realisation that such a thing will never happen --- it's a starkly beautiful, powerful and emotional song, as Bono relates the names of those who died in the bombing, and speaks of the heartache suffered by those left behind. ”Sean and Julia, Gareth Anne and Breda/ Their lives are bigger than/ Any big idea.” Bono admits in the song that in the ”Song I wrote/ The words are sticking in my throat”, the whole thing carried on atmospheric keyboard and semi-acoustic guitar, and yeah, it does bring the tears, especially to an Irishman who remembers that awful day. Time don't dull the pain.

Kind of carrying on from this, “When I look at the world” is a song about losing faith, a more uptempo sort of tune with lots of warbly keyboards and a mid-paced rhythm, then after all the heavy lyrical themes, “New York” is a song about, well, New York. It's a fast, powerful rocker --- though it starts out slow and low-key --- which betrays Bono's love of the city, and after September 11 certain lyrics had to be altered, like ”Religious nuts, political fanatics/ In the stew” . The tempo and rhythm actually remind me of the rushing tempo of the streets of New York (though I've never been there, but who hasn't seen it portrayed on telly or film a million times?), where everyone is dashing here and there, trying to get to where they need to go. It's also the first --- only --- song on the album where you can really hear the signature guitar sound the Edge is known for, roaring triumphantly as he lets it loose.

The album ends on a laidback almost acoustic ballad, “Grace”, which beats out “New York” as the longest track on the album by one second (does anyone really take note of these things? I do...), with a beautiful little guitar intro, the Edge almost going Hawaiian in his playing. It's a really introspective, simple little song to end an album that is full of ideas, great songs, interesting themes and a band getting back to doing what they do best.

TRACKLISTING

1. Beautiful day
2. Stuck in a moment you can't get out of
3. Elevation
4. Walk on
5. Kite
6. In a little while
7. Wild honey
8. Peace on Earth
9. When I look at the world
10. New York
11. Grace

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What happened to the Sensual World? What of this woman's work, and where did Lionheart go? In other words, where has Kate Bush been? It's now six years since her last album, 2005's “Aerial”, and a whopping twelve years between that and its predecessor, 1993's “The red shoes”. So what has she been doing in the interim? Well, setting up her own record label, for one thing, on which this is the first album proper to be released (earlier in the year saw a re-recording of songs from “The sensual world” and “The red shoes”, but this is the first new album), and writing one damn fine album for another. I think I can safely say it's been worth the wait.

50 words for snow --- Kate Bush --- 2011 (Fish People)


The album has only seven tracks, but in typical Bush fashion each one is a gem. Well, near as dammit. On opener “Snowflake” --- it's not a coincidence; every song here concerns snow or winter in some way, hence the title --- Kate's son Albert joins her on the vocal, her plaintive piano creating a fragile, delicate melody that is counterpointed by Steve Gadd's insightful drumming. In typical off-the-wall Bush style, “Snowflake” concerns the thoughts of a snowflake as it drifts to the ground. Albert's not-yet-broken voice naturally drags the mind to thoughts of Aled Jones on that perennial Christmas favourite “Walking in the air”, but it's Kate's mesmeric piano playing that really draws the ear on this gentle first assault in what will be an overall attack on your senses and emotions, albeit a warm and fuzzy one.

To be fair, though there are only seven songs they're all quite long, only two coming in at below eight minutes, and one is thirteen. “Snowflake” is almost like a prelude, gently rising and falling with the cadences of first Bush then Albert's voices, carrying you along like that little boy in “The Snowman” as he flies to the North Pole with his snowy friend. Bush's vocal hardly rises above a soft whisper throughout the track, and the overall feeling is of being wrapped in a soft blanket by a loving mother and sung to sleep as the wind howls and the snow falls outside.

There is guitar here, but it's so restrained and so economically used that you almost don't notice it. There is, however, no guitar on the second track, “Lake Tahoe”, carried entirely on Bush's at first somewhat discordant piano, while choral singer Stefan Roberts duets beautifully with her on, what else, a Victorian ghost story. This woman is the very essence of romantic drama in music. This track is just over eleven minutes long, and to keep that going, and keep it fresh, with nothing more than a piano and drums, and of course, her most potent weapon, her ethereal, spectral voice, is no small thing, but Bush manages it not only with aplomb, but with absolutely no question that there ever was going to be a problem doing so. It's almost an operetta in itself.

The longest track though comes next, beating out the previous by a good two minutes. “Misty” is the tale of a girl who falls in love with a snowman, in perhaps a more adult interpretation of the animated classic. Bush's piano is a little more animated and uptempo on this song, showing how versatile she can be on the instrument. She takes all vocals on this one herself, putting more than a little motown soul into her singing, the passion evident in lines like “So cold next to me/ I can feel him melting/ Melting in my hand” and ”He won't speak to me/ His crooked mouth is/ Full of dead leaves.”

It's a tender, tragic dark fairytale, driven at all times by the whisper-quiet longing passionate voice and feather-light fingers of Bush on the piano keyboard, Gadd's drumming providing just the right amount of percussion, while bass from Danny Thompson completes the rhythm section, little touches of guitar from Dan MacIntosh adding the final flourish. Bush's piano gets more insistent and desperate as the night ends and morning dawns, and the woman finds her snowman lover has melted away. An allegory, perhaps, for those selfish lovers who steal away in the night, having taken what they wanted?

Andy Fairweather Low guests on vocals next on “Wild man”, almost the shortest song on the album, would you believe, at just over seven minutes? For this track, Kate swaps the piano for a keyboard, and it's a much more uptempo song, though still gentle, with again no guitar and some pretty sterling vocal harmonies. The song itself concerns an expedition into the Himalayas during which evidence of the mythical Yeti (the Abominable Snowman) is found. Rather than sensationalise and report the footprints though, the group decide to wipe them out, so that the Yeti will not be disturbed and hunted by men. It's an interesting idea, but would have been hilariously misplaced had the aforementioned Yeti come charging down the hill to attack them!

Bush's keyboard works hard on this song, taking the role of most instruments and keeping the melody and the rhythm going, and it's certainly so far the most boppy of the songs --- well, the only boppy song, thus far anyway --- on the album. She adds the piano to the keys for the next track, which utilises the talents of Sir Elton John on the duet “Snowed in at Wheeler Street”, which seems to follow the doomed relationship throughout various lives of two lovers, where Kate sings ”Then I saw you in '42/ But we were on different sides/ I hid you under my bed/ But they took you away” and Elton recalls ”When we got to the top of the hill / We saw Rome burning.”

The music is very urgent and desperate on this song, the piano getting loud and brash as the two lovers try not to be separated again, though they know they will never be together. Excellent vocal performances from both the leads, and it's a powerful, dramatic and yearning song, leaving you as it fades with a real sense of loss and sympathy for the characters, knowing you can do nothing to help them.

The title track features Stephen Fry as Professor Joseph Yupik narrating fifty words that either denote or pertain to snow while Kate keeps a count as he heads towards, well, how many do you think? The melody and rhythm behind the song is excited, fast and encouraging as Kate exorts Fry to continue, pushing him towards the magical number. To be honest, it's excessively indulgent. I don't like Fry's self-congratulatory view of his own limited talent, and the song itself is a little pointless. As a title track, and as a song to stand amongst the greats that are on this album it fails on every level. It's complete tosh, too: half the words Fry uses to describe snow is just that word in another language, which you could then apply to any word. I thought the whole idea was to have fifty different words --- English words --- for snow? Bah! A small dip in the overall quality of the album, a little snowdrift you fall into that turns out to be a lot deeper than you at first thought, and you lose your footing and sink in.

Luckily, the album recovers from this minor (but very annoying, and more so the more you listen to it) bump, ending triumphantly with a real vintage Bush ballad, “Among angels”. Just her on vocals and piano, as it was in the beginning, so it is at the end. Painfully heartfelt, simple and beautifully elegant, this is Kate Bush at her very best, and it's fitting that the album, which has up to now maintained such a consistent high quality, should end on an ethereal, haunting note, and when she unleashes her voice, really lets it do what we know it's capable of, her fifty-plus years fall away like a blanket of snow from the shoulders of a coat as its wearer steps into the warmth.

At its heart a collection of songs, prayers even, to snow, to winter and to the colder side of Mother Nature, “50 words for snow” is a minor masterpiece, showing that Kate Bush still has it, and even if she takes her time letting her light shine through the darkness, it shines all the brighter for it. A child of nature in her own soul, a drifting spirit who haunts dreams and fantasies, Kate Bush is the Snow Queen and our Fairy Godmother rolled into one, with a little touch of Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, all fusing into one glorious entity, with the true voice of an angel.

TRACKLISTING

1. Snowflake
2. Lake Tahoe
3. Misty
4. Wild man
5. Snowed in at Wheeler Street
6. 50 words for snow
7. Among angels

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Ah, what song to end the year on, eh? Such a choice... well, this has a lot of the elements of change and also the new year in it, even if it wasn't written as such. See you all next year! Happy New Year from the Daily Earworm!

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Terra Incognita: Beyond the horizon --- Roswell Six --- 2009 (ProgRock)


Hands up those of you who like progressive rock. Okay. Now hands up, anyone who likes science-fiction. Hmm. I see a lot of the same people raising their hands, but that's okay, because as it happens this project will satisfy both of your cravings. Based completely on a sci-fi novel series written by author Kevin Anderson, and with music by superprogger Erik Norlander, “Terra Incognita: Beyond the horizon” is in fact the first of two discs, two separate albums tracing the story in Anderson's books. Roswell Six are a supergroup made up of some of the biggest names in progressive rock, the likes of Norlander's wife, Lana Lane, Shadow Gallery's Gary Wehrkamp, Asia's John Payne, James LaBrie from Dream Theater and IQ and Jadis' Martin Orford, to name but a few.

It's an epic undertaking, and in order to realise Anderson's vision, Norlander has worked closely with the author to create the music and most importantly lyrics that reflect the storyline of his novels. The album opens with dramatic organ and vocal chorus, rolling drums setting the scene and really making this quite an overture. It is in fact the longest track on the album, right off, at just over eleven minutes, and as the guitars and keyboards mesh, “Ishalem” gets underway, with beautiful, clear vocals by Lana Lane and (I think) Michael Sadler , a great slab of proto-symphonic prog rock, similar to the sort of thing you get in rock operas. Superb keyboards to rival the best you'll hear in classic Yes, ELP or Genesis alongside guitar riffs that just grab you by the throat. What an opener!

Much of “Ishalem” is instrumental, which probably accounts for its almost bloated length, though the rest of the album is much more realistic in length, with the next two tracks the second and third longest, at six and a half minutes and six minutes each. “The call of the sea” is much faster and heavier than the immense opener, with trumpeting keys in the best tradition of Asia, and a rollicking, rocking rhythm that carries the song along. Lana Lane again sings on this track, but detailed information on this album is very hard to get, ie who sings what track, and I'm not familiar with the vocalists --- though I've heard some of them --- nor experienced enough to be able to identify one from the other. It should perhaps be explained here that the actual Roswell Six are: Erik Norlander (keyboards) and wife Lana Lane (vocals), Kurt Barabas (bass) and author Kevin Anderson with his wife, who is also a novellist, Rebecca Moest. Shawn Gordon, head of ProgRock records, makes up the sixth member of the group. The others are all guests, and do not form part of the band, though they are certainly integral to its success.

I do know that Dream Theater's James LaBrie guests on vocals for “I am the point”, a dirty, crunching, heavy track much more guitar-led than the previous two, and certainly the heaviest on the album so far. I'm fairly familiar with John Payne's voice from his work with Asia, so I think I may be able to say with a little certainty that the first two tracks were sung by Saga's Michael Sadler, though don't hold me to that. “Letters in a bottle” has some beautiful violin from Kansas' David Ragsdale and acoustic guitar from Gary Wehrkamp at his laidback best, slowing things down for the first time, and I'm fairly sure that's Sadler on the vocals there. Lana takes centre stage for “Halfway”, a semi-ballad with insistent keyboard behind her, guitars breaking in after about a minute. The melody almost borders on reggae, but maintaining its rock core all the way.

Lovely, expressive organ introduces “Anchored” before it breaks out into a hard rocker, LaBrie again behind the mike, and Wehrkamp rocking it out as only he can. The organ continues throughout the song, Norland providing a symphonic backdrop to the melody, while adding in some dazzling flourishes of his own. Is that “Kashmir” by Led Zep I hear? No, this is one of the standout tracks, the symphonic and epic “Here be monsters”, which features all three vocalists --- Lana Lane, John Payne and Michael Sadler --- in a true tour-de-force that will take your breath away. Real sense of drama and of the story coming to a denoument here. Majestic.

More heavy guitar work from Shadow Gallery's axeman allies with mesmerising keyboard and beautiful piano from Norlander to create “The sinking of the Luminara”, an almost six-minute instrumental, with a really great bass solo --- yeah, that's what I said! --- from Kurt Barabas. Then “The winds of war” has Lana back on solo vocals for a galloping rocker as she wonders ”Why do they hate us?/ What did we do?” I suppose in retrospect it would be helpful to have the novel, or at least the liner notes, to go by, but as I didn't buy the physical CD --- haven't done that for years now --- I don't have that luxury, so the actual story is a little of a mystery to me. But this song definitely seems to involve some sort of sneak attack by an unknown enemy.

And she stays at the mike for “Swept away”, a heavy rock cruncher which at times gives way to some lovely gentle keyboard before powering back in courtesy of Wehrkamp and Chris Brown's guitars. Sadler partners Lane on this track, their duet quite intriguing. “Beyond the horizon” is another lovely ballad, piano melody leading what is essentially the title track on the album with some lovely keyboard runs and insightful drumming. Another contender for standout track, with a truly exceptional classical guitar solo from Chris Brown, and some very timely and effective flute from IQ's Martin Orford.

Penultimate track “Merciful tides/ Letters in a bottle (reprise)” is just that: a reprise of the first ballad on the album, with again Lana singing her heart out and a gentle but powerful keyboard melody keeping pace with her, and Wehrkamp adding a beautiful and entrancing solo to bring to a close the vocal part of the album. Closer “The edge of the world” is a powerful finale, instrumental as I say, allowing Norlander and Wehrkamp to have the final word. Starting off with synthy wind noises the track goes from symphonic prog bombast to hard rock and back to prog rock in a heartbeat, sliding effortlessly from one to the other, throwing in some more Orford flute along the way as the song speeds up, slows down, speeds up again, so that you're somewhat dizzy by the tremendous conclusion. But a great way to end the album.

Certainly a unique proposition, it's clear from this first album that the concept works, and everyone who has had a hand in this project has absolutely worked themselves as hard as possible, putting everything they have into it. It works as a prog rock album, as a symphonic rock album, and as a concept album. It works as a showcase for the vocalists, it works as a vehicle for Norlander's spellbinding keyboard work, and it works as a media through which to disseminate Anderson's novels.

Like I say, on every level, this works. Can't wait to review the sequel!

TRACKLISTING

1. Ishalem
2. The call of the sea
3. I am the point
4. Letters in a bottle
5. Halfway
6. Anchored
7. Here be monsters
8. The sinking of the Luminara
9. The winds of war
10. Swept away
11. Beyond the horizon
12. Merciful tides/ Letters in a bottle (reprise)
13. The edge of the world

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I'll never get out of this world alive --- Steve Earle --- 2011 (New West)


Been waiting a while for this one! It's been four years now since the last Steve Earle album proper, although he did release a tribute to his friend and mentor Townes Van Zandt in 2009. This however is the first original album of his since 2007's “Washington Square serenade”, and I've been itching to hear some new Earle material, so let's dive right in on this, the last 2011 album to be reviewed by me this year.

It starts in fine style as “Waitin' on the sky” takes us in, a classic Earle tune with plenty of country in it and also lots of rock as Steve recalls living on a military base when he was younger. It's a solid song and opens the album with both a sense of living with the sword of Damocles hanging over your head as well as a shrug of the shoulders, a kind of “so this is how it is, not gonna let it ruin my life”, and so in that sense an air of perhaps misplaced optimism. That optimism disappears, to be replaced by cold, bitter anger at a certain “Dubya” on the bluegrass tune “Little emperor”, when Steve's political leanings come once again to the fore in his songwriting.

There's the usual lineup of great musicians on this album, with two females so that Earle changes his bandname from Steve Earle and the Dukes to Steve Earle and the Dukes and Duchesses! Some great fiddle, courtesy of Sara Watkins and banjo on this track, increasing the country feel and perhaps moving a little away from the last two albums, which planted their feet a bit more firmly in the world of rock music. There's an acapella opening with a very traditional flare to “The Gulf of Mexico”, and even when the instruments get going it's more like a trad song than a country one. I've seen this performed on “Later with Jools Holland”, so can tell you that Earle's wife (his seventh! --- Doesn't this man ever have enough?) plays guitar, keys and occasionally sings on the album, and she does a great job here as her husband sings about his grandfather who ”Drew a steady paycheck/ Twenty years to Texaco/ When he died we spread his ashes/ On the Gulf of Mexico.”

There's a very celtic feel to the song, with superb fiddle from Watkins, and uptempo guitars from both producer T-Bone Burnett and Patti Smith's son Jackson, the beat kept tight by Jay Bellerose on the drumkit, a country flavour infused into the song via pedal steel from multi-session player Greg Leisz. The workaday feel of the song is suddenly brought into sharp focus though at the end, when Earle recounts a huge oil spill that made him think again about his chosen profession: ”Then one night I swear I saw the Devil /Crawlin' from the hole/ And he spilled the guts of Hell out /In the Gulf of Mexico.”

Acoustic banjo (is there any other kind?) and fiddle introduce “Molly-o”, a stripped-down song of murder and revenge, with Earle sounding a lot like James Taylor on the chorus. Weird. It's another bluegrass song, Watkins' sentimental fiddling lending it a graceful air, while one of the standouts comes in the shape of “God is God”, apparently originally written for Joan Baez. A nice ballad with a rhythm somewhat reminiscent of a much slower “Copperhead Road”, the song reflects Steve's belief that it doesn't matter what you believe, if God is there he, she or it is there, and your opinion doesn't change that. Some cutting lines: ”Every day that passes /I'm sure about a little bit less/Even my money keeps telling me /It's God I need to trust” and ”God of my little understanding /Don't care what name I call/ Whether or not I believe /Doesn't matter at all.”

A very Tom Waits vibe then about “Meet me in the alley” (wouldn't a duet between them be so cool?), with lonely, drunken horns from Allan Toussaint and guitar effects from Burnett and Smith, as well as mournful harmonica which all help to underscore Waits' --- sorry, Earle's! --- low, growling vocal that complements the song perfectly. Real Nashville Blues goin' on here! “Every part of me” is another acoustic ballad, the type Earle does so well, with nice double bass and understated percussion. Some really effective mandolin in the background adds to the low-key atmosphere and fragility of the song, then it's another ballad for “Lonely are the free”, though slightly more electric this time: reminds me of “Lonelier than this” from one of my favourite of his albums, “Transcendental blues”.

That pedal steel is back, wailing in the background and anchoring the song as Earle sings in his plaintive drawl, in fact I find a lot of this album low-key and quite sad. In comparison to “Washington Square serenade”'s anger and the power and determination evident on “The revolution starts now”, this album comes across as world-weary, frustrated but too tired to do anything about it. Even the title, through taken from a Hank Williams song, reflects a sense of fatalism and acceptance that things will not work out as you want them to.

Allison Moorer joins him on “Heaven or Hell”, a more upbeat track but still pretty firmly in ballad territory, Leisz's pedal steel this time the dominant instrument rather than just a backing player. Moorer has a nice voice, and like that of his sister Stacey, it meshes well with Steve's. It's seldom he duets, and when he does he obviously picks voices that will complement and play off his Texas growl. Things keep slow and played-down for “I am a wanderer”, very country in its makeup, getting a little faster and upbeat as it goes along, but yet a song of a man who knows he will never again see home. This song was written for her, and there's a rumour that the vocals heard in the background belong to the great Baez, but I can't confirm that. Certainly sounds like her.

The album closes on the track that won it a Grammy nomination. Written for the TV series “Treme”, the closer is called “This city” and has a very New Orleans vibe about it, with Allan Toussaint's horns adding the colour to what is again a fairly dour song despite the optimistic lyric: ”Doesn't matter, come what may / I ain't ever gonna leave this town/ This city won't wash away/ This city won't ever drown.” Yeah, it's a low-key ending to a low-key album, and the very nature of the song reflects what little I saw of the series. I didn't like “Treme” and I can't say I like this track either.

On the whole, I must admit I'm quite disappointed. No rockers, no great statements of intention, nothing that remains in my head for long after the album has finished. I must admit, having watched him perform on TV I was a little anxious, as I wasn't that thrilled with what I was hearing. Listening now to the album all the way through, I'm similarly unimpressed. This is nearly as close to an acoustic album as you could come for Steve Earle, almost his “Nebraska”, though without Springsteen's sharp and touching line-drawings in music of characters and places. I would have to place this low on my list of favourite Earle albums: it wouldn't quite be “Train a-comin'”, but it's not too far ahead of it, and I really hated that album!

Four years to wait for this? It's not a terrible album, and it wouldn't turn me off Steve Earle (nothing could), but I am hugely let down by this collection. Maybe the last few albums spoiled me, but I just would have preferred something a bit more upbeat and a bit more, I don't know, uplifting? I always got the feeling, listening to a Steve Earle album, that he believed he could take on the world and win, every time. After the last few albums, this almost feels like him giving up the fight, giving up on society. Perhaps it is. But I won't give up on his music.

It'll be a while before I play this through again though.

TRACKLISTING

1. Waitin' on the sky
2. Little Emperor
3. The Gulf of Mexico
4. Molly-o
5. God is God
6. Meet me in the alleyway
7. Every part of me
8. Lonely are the free
9. Heaven or Hell
10. I am a wanderer
11. This city

Recommended further listening: “Copperhead Road”, “Transcendental blues”, “El corazon”, “The revolution starts now”, “The hard way”, “I feel alright”, “Washington Square serenade”

Footnote: And so we come to the last review of a 2011 album in the year of its release. I will of course continue to review albums from this fast-fading year in 2012, but not under this banner. From tomorrow, or as soon as there are 2012 albums to buy and review, they will be the only ones which will populate this section. That may take a little time, as I don't know who is due to release albums in the first weeks of 2012, so bear with me. I'm as much at the mercy of the new year as you are.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Just a last note from me (assuming this gets approved and posted in time!) to wish you all a Happy and safe New Year, and thanks for reading and sticking with me. This journal has been a great source of relaxation, enjoyment and almost therapy for me, and I hope to improve it vastly in 2012. Hope you all enjoyed it, and will continue to do so.

Just a few namechecks: HNY to Jackhammer (hope it's not too tough a time to get through for ya, fella!), Pedestrian, Burning Down, Above, Urban Hatemonger, Cardboard Adolescent, Vanilla, Zero, Captaincaptain, The Nice Guy, Billyjerome, Unchained Ballad, Nonsubmissive Wife, The Big 3, Badlittlekitten, Tumor and anyone else I forgot --- thanks for your communication, support and contributions to my journal, even if it was only as a lurking reader, and I'll see you all on the other side of 2011.

And now, to go get drunk. Or something.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018