country

REVIEW: ZZ Top – Tejas (1976)

ZZ Top – Tejas (1976 Warner)

Billy Gibbons described the sixth ZZ Top album Tejas as “transitional”.  Modern technology was creeping its way into the recording studio, but ZZ Top were still as bluesy and greasy as ever.  Their palette was becoming more colourful, if anything.  Not just the browns of desert landscape and beer bottles, but a broadening spectrum of shades.

Opening with fan favourite slow groove “It’s Only Love”, we are off to a stunning start.  The high twang of the guitars contrast with the low thump of Dusty Hill’s bass, but it is the chorus most of us remember best.  Frank Beard’s drums clank along creatively, and the band are cooking.  Vocals are shared between Billy and Dusty.  Three quarters in, the song shifts into something a little more tense, with a brilliant harmonica solo.

Things sound a little more familiar on the bouncing “Arrested For Driving While Blind”, a solid blue boogie.  Listen to Frank shuffle while Billy effortless rips out one of his patented smokers.  The grooves turn gently relentless on “El Diablo”, a nocturnal desert tale, with adventurous chord changes and rolling guitar work.  Once again Dusty Hill creates a backdrop of low thunder.  This ain’t blues, but a sci-fi hybrid.  Likewise, “Snappy Kakkie” is not at all standard, nor is it a bizarre Frank Zappa workout.  Yet it has certain adventurous and challenging elements that lend it a foot in many worlds.  At the end of the day, that hook of “Say hey Snappy Kakkie!” keeps you coming back.  The pace picks up on “Enjoy and Get It On”.  This track is a serious deep cut; a nice little greasy blues blitz at the end of side one.

“Ten Dollar Man”, with Dusty on vocals, is a ripper.  As Frank Beard deftly taps out the beats, Dusty and Billy get down to the business of cooking.  A menacing track with plenty of head-bopping potential.  Then you better solder your head on straight, for “Pan Am Highway Blues” rips!  ZZ Top are never content to just play the blues.  They have to throw a few tricks in the bag, and they do, but this song is focused more on the highway and the gas pedal.  Billy takes advantage of the studio tech to overlay a few nice slide guitar lines.

Dusty takes the mic on “Avalon Hideaway” which features some tasty, pounding Frank Beard fills.  The lead solo by Billy might be the best part, but the slightly funky vibe really makes it a mover.  Beard is a busy drummer without sounding busy.  “She’s a Heartbreaker” is a classic pop/country/rock/Top tune.  The croonin’ melody of the chorus is a classic that will go down as one of ZZ’s best in their vast catalogue.  “She’s a heartbreaker, she’s a love taker, but she can break a heart and take all the love she needs…”  There’s a hint of violin just to nail that hoedown vibe.  As far as Top tunes go, this one’s a masterpiece of musical fusion.

Tejas closes on a brilliant instrumental, “Asleep In the Desert”, which allows Billy to play both electric and acoustic, slow and easy, as the sun sets over the oasis and the sounds of the night begin to emerge…

Many ZZ Top albums can be considered among their best in the catalogue.  In 1976, there was concern that ZZ Top was going too far country.  Obviously in hindsight, that wasn’t the case, and we can appreciate Tejas for what it was.  Because none of its songs were included on 1977’s Best Of ZZ Top, Tejas abounds in great deep cuts.  It’s not the kind of album you buy and get all the hits you remember.  It’s something far better.  It’s an album you buy and learn a bunch of brilliant songs you might not have heard before.  It’s a must.

4.5/5 stars

The 8-track release shuffles the track order, but no songs are split between tracks, which is always nice.  “El Diablo” coming in second changes the vibe of the listen a bit.

 

 

The 1002nd Album – S1E29. Steve Earle – I Feel Alright (Mike Ladano)

Thank you Geoff Stephen from the 1002nd Album for this chance to talk about Steve Earle’s immensely great I Feel Alright album.

Geoff’s words:

Welcome, Mike ‘LeBrain’ Ladano! Join Mike & I as we discuss quadratic relation-esque running orders, why we avoid skipping so-called skippable tracks, and the ‘je ne sais quoi’ that makes certain albums magical.

Enjoy on Youtube below!

 

REVIEW: Blue Rodeo – Daze In America (1995 promo EP)

BLUE RODEO – Daze In America (1995 Discovery Records promo CD)

Blue Rodeo have a number of promo-only releases of great value to fans.  There’s the The Live CFNY Concert for one.  “Diamonds in the Rough” / Demos and Other Stuff….. is another.  Perhaps the most superb of them was 1995’s Daze In America CD, including five live songs but never released to retail on any Blue Rodeo album or single.

The sextet were riding high with the triumphant Five Days In July album, a surprise hit recorded spontaneously in…well, five days.  An utter masterpiece, Five Days in July produced numerous classics that endured in setlists for decades.  “Head Over Heels” was one such track, an upbeat Jim Cuddy stomper with harmonica, mandolin, and the kitchen sink.  It’s the kind of Blue Rodeo track that gets people off their seats.  The version here is the studio cut, which is logical since it was one of the big singles they were promoting at the time.

“Hasn’t Hit Me Yet” is live in Omaha, and it emanates energy from the crowd.  “This ain’t nothing new to me, it’s just like going home,” sings Greg Keelor.  “It’s kinda like those sunsets that leave you feeling so stoned…”  Crowd roars.  Live, Jim Cuddy’s harmony line is more prominent.  Blue Rodeo’s best song, hands down.  And check out Bazil Donovan’s lyrical walking basslines and tell me he isn’t one of the best bass players in this great nation of ours!  Yes, “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet” is a freakin’ gem, where every facet matters, and elevates the song further.

Jim’s bluest ballad, “Bad Timing” is received by quiet punctuated with screams.  If you see Blue Rodeo live, then you know this is a common reaction to Cuddy’s crooning, a country heartthrob if there ever was one.  “Bad Timing” is sentimental, beautiful, and soothing in its own pain.  The ultimate breakup song.  It’s just bad timing, that’s all.

Casino‘s “Til I Am Myself Again” brings us back to one of those upbeat Jim songs that people love to dance to.  Being seated during this song at a Blue Rodeo concert is not optional.  Often a set opener, this one kicks!  Laying back a bit, “Rain Down on Me” was another big hit, this time from Lost Together.  The size of the chorus, a big huge cumulus, is one reason why it is so beloved.  The pedal steel guitar solo by Kim Deschamps is outstanding.  Then “Last To Know” is another Jim ballad, but with a monolithic chorus.

Ex-Andy Curran drummer Glenn Milchem is all over “Trust Yourself”, a real bolder-buster of a tune.  It was always a bit of a jam, but live it just explodes from all its bounds.   Then it descends in a two minute outro of solos and jamming.  Blue Rodeo are one of the best live bands you’ll ever see, and this track shows why.

A great promo EP, somewhat rare, but worth the extra few bucks for these rare recordings.

5/5 stars

REVIEW: Steve Earle – I Feel Alright (1996)

STEVE EARLE – I Feel Alright (1996 Warner)

One of the greatest albums of the 90s might never have happened if Steve Earle didn’t get addicted, go to jail, and finally clean up.  Earle was always a formidable songwriter.  “Ain’t Ever Satisfied”, “Someday”, and “The Other Kind” (to name only three) dripped with emotion and a certain perfection, insofar as art goes.  Steve’s songs were always about life, but in the 90s, life got intense.  I Feel Alright is the resultant album, a masterpiece that serves as the prototype for several more of Earle’s later works.

I Feel Alright was actually preceded by an acoustic album called Train A Comin’, made up of songs written from 1974 to 1995  In the liner notes, Steve tells the story.

“When I was locked up, I was getting ready to go off on this boy that stole my radio.  My partner Paul asked me where I was going.  I said, ‘To get my radio, and then go to the hole for a little while.’  He looked at me like I look at my 13 year old sometimes and said, ‘No, you ain’t.  You’re gonna sit your little white ass down and do your little time and then you’re gonna get out of here and make me a nice record.’  SO, I MADE TWO.”

“I Feel Alright” opens with defiant chords, hands hitting the strings unrelentingly, and then Steve opens his mouth.  It’s the same voice but somehow, now it feels like he really means it.   “I feel alright tonight,” he sings reassuringly.  Because we were worried about him!  The worldly lyrics are backed by shimmering layers of guitar.

Fun hits hard on “Hard Core Troubadour”, classic guitars chiming away.  Singing about a girl who’s seeing another guy on the side, Steve threatens him with the epic line:  “Wherefore art thou Romeo, you son of a bitch?”  It’s over and out in under three minutes, but the enduring adventure will be worth a repeat spin.

A blast of harmonica enters for the sentimental “More Than I Can Do”.  Upbeat and unforgettable.   Simple, impeccably constructed, and effective.  Three perfect songs in a row.

The first ballad, “Hurtin’ Me, Hurtin’ You”, is the kind of song Steven Tyler has been trying to write since about 1993, except done right.  This is what he’s been trying to write — the bluesy country heartbroken ballad with punch.  Sorry Tyler, Steve’s got you beat.  This song has “Crazy” beat by a country mile.

Upbeat harmonica enters the fray once again on “Now She’s Gone”, the story of a wild child.  Something Steve probably knows a thing or two about.  Vivid storytelling.  “She met a boy up in Kentucky, Charlie was his name. Just when he thought he got lucky, she stole his watch and chain.”  Most of I Feel Alright is short and sweet and this is no exception.  With rough and weathered voice, Earle sings it with intent.

Side one closes on “Poor Boy”, traditional country a-la Johnny (Cash or Horton).  Strong beat, light twang, and seasoned singing.  This is the kind of country Steve would have grown up on.

Opening side two, “Valentine’s Day” is a somber apology.  It sounds like Earle has made quite a few apologies in his day, and this represents them all.  Gentle, with subtle country backing vocals and light strings.

The clouds give way to a fiery blaze in “The Unrepentant”.  Steve’s hunting the devil himself this time, with a “bad attitude and a loaded .44.”  He concludes his threat with, “You got your pitchfork and I got my gun…somebody’s gotta do it.”  Fans of “Copperhead Road” will enjoy this song cut from a similar electrified cloth, though at a slower, more deliberate pace.

The only track on I Feel Alright that might be out of step is the blunt blues “CCKMP” (“Cocaine Cannot Kill My Pain”).  It’s obviously dark, raw, and intense.  Clearly born from Steve’s own experiences, and completely relevant to the journey.  Will you enjoy listening to it?  Difficult to say.  What can be said is “CCKMP” is the dark point of this ride, the scary part in the tunnel.  It has its place.  It would have been wrong to leave out this crucial part of Steve’s journey.

“Billy and Bonnie” is a classic outlaw story, mandolin singing away while a driving beat takes us on down a dusty dirt road.  A Cadillac, a gas station robbery, and a day in court make for a killer story (literally)!  Then it’s a little bit of traditional country bluegrass on “South Nashville Blues”.  Looking for a little company, with money in pocket.

Ending as strongly as it began, I Feel Alright goes out on a duet with Lucinda Williams.  “You’re Still Standing There” is the love letter at the end of the story, the happy ending.  More blasts of harmonica, backed by impeccable melodic construction.  When you filter those melodies through the very human voices of Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams, you get a raw celebration of a closer that just makes you wanna smile.

The celebration is just that Steve survived.  That he came back truly a stronger singer/songwriter is the remarkable part.  Though he came close to perfection on followup albums like El Corazón and Trancendental Blues, song for song, Steve has never touched the level of I Feel Alright again.  It’s one of those magical albums that’s composed of classic after classic after classic; songs you want to keep hearing over and over again.  Very real performances, communicating human emotion efficaciously.  A perfect record.

5/5 stars

Just Listening to…Jim Dead & the Doubters – Pray For Rain (2015)

Jim himself will be our guest tomorrow on the LeBrain Train.

You never know what to expect from Jim Dead.  Sometimes he’s mournfully acoustic, sometimes he’s raging electric with a full band.  The Doubters are the latter and Pray For Rain is a powerful listening experience traversing blues, rock and country.

Opener “Wooden Kimono” is a relentless electric blues.  Jim sounds tormented, as any good blues singer should.  Sabbathy guitar bends on “May the Road Rise” show that this band is not afraid to mix influences.  This is rock — like the better parts of Pearl Jam distilled.  Blues and granite mingle gladly on the title track.  It must be stated that the drums on this album are most excellently powerful.

On down the line, the album straddles the blues/rock lines, travelling all the way to the Stone Temple of grunge on “Lovesick Blues”.  The brief “Trains” goes somewhere else completely different, something from the old west but in the 2000s.  The leads into “Crows on the Wire”, the only overtly country song.  A welcome reprise from the rising tides of heaviness.

The greatest track on the album could be “Home”, a quiet dusky number which erupts with heartfelt lead vocals that rends the soul to slivers.  Echoes of Tom Waits, but not Tom Waits.  This is chased by some wicked slide on “You Coulda Said” and finally, acoustic melancholy on the closer “I’m Not Lost”.  A magnificent end.

Pray For Rain is an intense album.  It’s heavy with feeling, and guitars.  Some of the lead work is outstanding and the vocals are always fierce…yet tender.  It’s focused and raw.  Pray For Rain was recorded in a couple of days but the payoff is that you’ll want to listen to it for years.

 

The Big Lebowski radio, tonight!

I will be LIVE at 12:30 AM (ET) Saturday morning with Robert Daniels on VISIONS IN SOUND. Tune in on your dial to 98.5 or internet to CKWR!  You folks in the UK can tune in as you enjoy some morning java!  Join Us THIS Saturday 12:30-2:30am (ET).

This Week On Visions In Sound – The 20th Anniversary Of The Big Lebowski – Drop in to see what condition your condition is in this week as this week we celebrate the 20th of the Coen Brothers cult classic The Big Lebowski. We will also be live on Facebook!

I’m a bit of a fan of both the movie and its excellent soundtrack.  My movie review can be found here.  Check out my cool Lebowski ID and swag!

 

 

REVIEW: The Four Horsemen – Daylight Again (21st Anniversary Edition)

scan_20160919THE FOUR HORSEMEN – Daylight Again (2009 21st Anniversary Edition)

Haggis was itching to make some music again, but not with Frank C. Starr.  When the original Horsemen split in 1992, Haggis cut off contact with Starr, and the two never spoke again.  Instead Haggis hooked up with a singer and harmonica player named Tim Beattie, who did some mouth organ on “Homesick Blues” from the first LP.  Tim could sing too, with a slight southern drawl as a contrast to Starr’s AC/DC shred.  Guitarist Dave Lizmi and bassist Ben Pape were not interested in rejoining the band, so Haggis brought in two new members:  Rick McGhee handled the guitar leads, and Duane D. Young held down the bottom end.  Dimwit Montgomery flew down from Canada to complete the lineup.

It wasn’t to last long.  Even without the explosive Starr, the volatile band began to melt down shortly after writing a batch of new, soulful rock tunes.  Rick McGhee quit.  Dimwit too; Les Warner ex-of The Cult came down to record the drums.  Even Dave Lizmi came back briefly, but left after recording an album’s worth of demos.  Lizmi was replaced by a new guitarist named Mike Valentine before it all hit the wall again.

The album that became Daylight Again was recorded in 1994 (with Lizmi) and shelved.  According to Haggis, the fate of the band was “an inevitable outcome.  We had evolved to the point of being unrecognizable from the group that had been signed five years previously.  We started out as card-carrying members of the Bon Scott fan club, and ended up sounding like the house band at an Arkansas chicken ranch.”  The label lost patience and dropped them.  Haggis quit music completely, while up in Toronto, Lizmi decided to give the Horsemen one more try….

Daylight Again wasn’t intended for release as-is.  These are cassette and DAT recordings, cleaned up as much as possible for CD.  Hiss and noise are part of the deal, so buyer beware, this is not the gloss of a Rick Rubin production.  You can taste the rawness; not even blue-rare, just pure raw blues unfettered by mixing consoles.  The sound is modified by banjos and pedal steel.  The location is somewhere in the deep south.  You can feel the humidity in the rehearsal space and sense the hot tube amps humming away.  Somewhere in between the Allmans and Skynyrd, the Horsemen found some inspiration from old grooves.

You can even find a little funk (“Trailer Park Boogie”) among the blues, soul, folk and rock influences.   These traditions are given a boost with a touch of gospel.  Nowhere is this more obvious than the closer, an 11 minute jam on “Amazing Grace”.   Each Horsemen album ended with a long, emotional song of epic quality.  It was “I Need a Thrill/Somethin’ Good” on the first LP, and “What the Hell Went Wrong” on Gettin’ Pretty Good…at Barely Gettin’ By.  “Amazing Grace” trumps both in the emotion and time categories.  It’s also Beattie’s best performance on the album.  The guitar melodies are just sublime.

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Daylight Again is an incredible, albeit unfinished album.  Some arrangements sound fluid and not quite there yet; it’s a flawed gem of a recording.  The thing about the blues is that it has a timeless quality.  You can’t nail this album down to a specific period because the blues are eternal.  Whether it’s Beattie blowing away on some harmonica jams, or Lizmi’s pure feel, there are loads of tradition to dig into on this album.

As discussed in a previous instalment of this series, Dave Lizmi formed a new Horsemen lineup himself shortly after the Haggis/Beattie version disintegrated for good. With Frank C. Starr back in the saddle, Lizmi’s Horsemen released the “official” second LP, Gettin’ Pretty Good…at Barely Gettin’ By.  However, Daylight Again pre-dates those recordings by almost two years and showcases a “lost” period in Horsemen history.   The 2009 reissue does a great service by finally bringing this lost LP to light.

4/5 stars

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REVIEW: Swingers – Music from the Miramax Motion Picture (1996)

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Scan_20160714SWINGERS – Music from the Miramax Motion Picture (1996 A&M)

Now here…now here is a soundtrack!  Every track is a keeper.  With a mixture of oldies and newer songs, Swingers had a peerless balance.   If you’re down to swing, dance, or just get dirty, this soundtrack has what you need.  Bonus points for the uber-thin and young Vince Vaughn on the front cover too. Jon Favreau executive produced the soundtrack, and it’s clear the guy has good taste in music.

I love it when a soundtrack puts scenes from a movie right in your head.  Dean Martin’s “You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You” kicks off both the CD and the movie, and all I can think is “Vegas baby, Vegas.”  That slow jazz just sets the mood for the adventures ahead.  The horns pop!  It’s money, baby.  Talk about setting the bar high for an opening track; thankfully there’s lots more to come.

“Paid for Loving” by Love Jones brings me right into the film’s setting again, but it’s Tony Bennett’s “With Plenty of Money and You” that has me seeing the bright lights of Vegas before me.  Remember Mikey and T rolling up in their suits?  You’d feel like a high roller too, with a song like this playing.  Tony is followed by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (who appeared in the film).  Now, I do kinda wish it was the live version of “You & Me & the Bottle Makes 3 Tonight (Baby)”.  In the film, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy play it live, but this is a studio version.  I think including the live version would have been an extra treat for fans, but I’m not complaining.  If you don’t find yourself tapping your toes to it, call the coroner, because you may be dead.

Mixing new and old, Scotty and the guys from Big Bad Voodoo Daddy are chased by Louis Jordan, from way way back in 1941.  If you love muted trumpet solos, then dig right in.  A song you should recognise is the oft-played “Groove Me” by King Floyd (1970).  It’s a soul classic that found itself used on TV ads over the years.   More jazz (a couple cool instrumentals), and more Big Bad Voodoo Daddy are to be found as the CD progresses.  Daddy have three tracks on the CD, all of which were in the movie.  “Go Daddy-O” has to be a favourite for sure, but “I Wan’na Be Like You” has a tropical salsa beat.

Roger Miller’s “King of the Road” isn’t jazz and doesn’t swing, but it has the same golden oldie feel.  It’s not the only country song:  George Jones himself honours the CD with his presence.  The melancholy ballad “She Thinks I Still Care” is one of the…saddest, I guess…lyrics I’ve ever heard.  It’s a great song from a great scene in the film.

“Pick up the Pieces” by the Average White Band is the kind of song everybody needs.  “Need” isn’t too strong a word either.  You know the song, you love the song.  You have to.  It’s required.  Finally, “I’m Beginning to See the Light” by Bobby Darin completes the journey, and it’s back to the same kind of sound that Dean Martin started the album with.  And what a journey it is!  You just…feel BETTER after listening.  When I bought this CD, I felt like this line of dialogue directly applied to me:

“You’re a big winner.  I’m gonna ask you a simple question and I want you to listen to me: who’s the big winner here tonight at the casino? Huh?  Mikey!  That’s who!  Mikey’s the big winner.  Mikey wins.”

5/5 stars

REVIEW: O Brother, Where Art Thou? – Soundtrack (2000)

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O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? – Music from a film by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (2000 Universal)

Hot damn!  It’s the Soggy Bottom Boys!

Even if you hated the film (have a doctor check to see if you still have taste left), you can’t deny the fun and authentic roots music on its soundtrack.

A bizarre re-telling of Homer’s The Odyssey set in the 1930’s depression-era south, O Brother was nothing if not unique.  It mixes a liberal interpretation of Greek mythology, with Americana and the mythology of the blues era.  Some people don’t get it, some people do but don’t like it, and others have long been swept away by its charms.  Those with an allergy to George Clooney, fear not:  he does not actually sing on this soundtrack, although his co-star Tim Blake Nelson certainly does (on “I’m in the Jailhouse Now”). Dan Tyminski from Alison Krauss & Union Station sings for Clooney’s character Ulysses Everett McGill on the signature hit, “Man of Constant Sorrow” though many people assume it’s George.

The soundtrack CD is a mixture of light and dark.  The first two songs  are the perfect example:  “Po Lazarus” is a chain-gang work song, just before Ulysses Everett McGill and his two companions break free and embark on their Odyssey.  It’s followed by a 1928 recording by Harry McClintock, “The Big Rock Candy Mountain”, a joyful nonsense song about a hobo finding paradise on the rails.

“Where the boxcars all are empty,
And the sun shines every day,
On the birds and the bees,
And the cigarette trees,
The lemonade springs,
Where the bluebird sings,
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.”

The composite of light and dark reflects the movie itself, but makes for a fairly inconsistent listen.  The soundtrack follows the progress of the film, but without the story backing it up, it’s harder to go with the flow from song to song.  The a capella “O Death” (Ralph Stanley) for example is squeezed between the popular songs “Man of Constant Sorrow” and “I’m in the Jailhouse Now”, so most people will typically skip it.

I look at this soundtrack CD as a great “starter kit” for exploring more genres of music.  The dominant ones are folk and bluegrass, but there are also blues tracks and hymns.  Norman Blake’s “You Are My Sunshine” sounds wonderful sitting in the shade on a summer day.  Immediately after that, you get the velvet tones of Alison Krauss, from the baptism scene with “Down to the River to Pray”.  You have never heard a more perfect version, serene, still and deep as the water.  And, yes, the Soggy Bottom Boys!  In the film, Ulysses Everett McGill and his companions Pete, Delmar and Tommy Johnson (loosely based on Robert) wind up cutting a record.  There are four versions of “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow” on the album.  The first is the acoustic track shown being recorded in the film.  The version that became a hit single in the real world is from the climax, a fully augmented mix with fiddles and slides.  That is included closer to the end of the disc. There is an instrumental version on acoustic guitar by Norman Blake, a fine take indeed.  The fourth is an instrumental version on fiddle by John Hartford, barely recognisable.  All four are quite different but valuable.

Blues singer and guitarist Chris Thomas King was cast in the film as Tommy Johnson, and his solo track “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues” is a fine example of acoustic blues.  There is plenty of sunny and gleeful folk, such as “Keep on the Sunny Side”, “I’ll Fly Away”, “In the Highways” and of course “In the Jailhouse Now”.  Tim Blake Nelson is certainly a multi-talented guy, but the yodelling part is not performed by John Turturro as it appears in the film.  Still Pat Enright’s yodel part is one of the highlights of the entire album.  It’s important to note that producer T Bone Burnett captured authetic sounding performances here.  Close your eyes, mix some scratchy vinyl sounds over it, and you can imagine these are vintage recordings from the 1930’s.

Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, the Fairfield Four, the Cox Family and more…this CD is a great way to both enjoy an hour of music from the film, and kickstart a collection of folk, bluegrass and more.  Dig in!

4.5/5 stars

Final bonus:  Sh*t LeBrain’s Grandma Says!

I love my grandma with all my heart, but sometimes she gets the names of movies wrong.  We took her to the theater to see “There’s Mail Waiting for You” (You’ve Got Mail), and she also really enjoyed this movie, which she calls “Brother Can You Spare a Dime?”

REVIEW: Jim Dead & the Doubters – Pray for Rain (2015)

Multi-site review! For the other Jim Dead & the Doubters reviews, click below:

Scan_20160125JIM DEAD & THE DOUBTERS – Pray for Rain (2015 Jim Dead)

I like Jim Dead’s authentic dark slant on country and blues.  I don’t know how you get such a true slab of blues out of Scotland, but there is no lack of truth in Dead’s music.  With the Doubters he gives a full-on band experience, blues-rock with drums and electric twang, but nothing has changed.  Jim Dead still sounds wracked with all the pain and agony from past records, perhaps even more so.

A “Wooden Kimono” doesn’t sound like comfortable garb, but this song is anything but wooden.  It’s played on wooden instruments plugged in with electricity, and accompanied by Dead, telling it like it is.  “Wooden Kimono” is a swampy stomp; this gives way to “May the Road Rise”, a powerful moaner of riffs and wounds.  Jim Dead has never sounded better, truthfully, than he does baring his soul on “May the Road Rise”.  “Pray for Rain”, the title track, is a storm of rock power so just get swept up with it.


This is a rough mix — the album version sounds better.

The blues vibe comes across on “Holding the Line”, with some very nice guitar work up front.  A soaring chorus and some bluesy guitars are just what the doctor prescribed.  “Lovesick Blues” is heavy shit, grunged up and ready to take it to the next level.  “I’m sick of TV, I’m sick of me,” sings Dead with the anguish you expect, but with a Glenn Danzig howl.

As if to emphasize an LP side change, “Trains” fades in slowly and feels like a new start.  Jim Dead likes writing about trains.  I like that.  “Trains” is the opposite of “Lovesick Blues”; it’s a brief percussive tune that introduces the country twang of “Crows on the Wire”.  Sounding like an upbeat road tune, “Crows” reminds me of Blue Rodeo.  It defies you to stand still.  “Let it rain, let it snow,” sings Jim and this time we’ll agree to disagree.  “Home” then is ominous, with those big fat guitar tones you love, again sounding a bit like Greg Keelor’s work in Blue Rodeo.  “You Coulda Said” has one of the sweetest sounds in the whole wide world, that being a dirty slide guitar.  The final track is the quieter “I’m Not Lost”, also the name of a prior Jim Dead EP.  Call it the album epic, but at almost seven minutes it really does feel like a journey.  It starts somewhere and goes somewhere else.  That’s the key.

If you want something authentic and real to listen to, with the darkness and brightness of the real world, than look no further.  You must simply Pray for Rain, and get this CD.  This is the real thing; the genuine article.  You can buy Pray for Rain by clicking here.

4.5/5 stars