I listen to a lot of music and am sometimes called upon for recommendations which I do not make freely, not because I do not have good opinions but because music is a personal thing for me and a passion for me that if you don’t share it...my taste means nothing and will probably put you off. If Neil Young did not at some point change your life or guide your strife then your ability to understand the dreadful beauty of Dinosaur jr., Built To Spill or...a million other groups will simply not be there. So when people ask for pics I smile (pleased at the question) but knowing as I try to inaccurately assess their tastes that I will be unintentionally condescending and my rec ultimately unsatisfying. Alll that having been said...I love music and if your interested....
Greg Brown:
Evening Call
Red House records 2006
Greg Brown. One of our greatest most prolific living singer songwriters. “Singer Songwriter.” What a sick little classification that is. Some sensitive young boy or girl or...even worse some grizzled middle aged or letter, world weary, whiskey voiced moaner strumming somewhat inadequately on a guitar as they...impart unwanted knowledge of all the bad shit that has happened to them. Forget about love songs... this is white man blues and it is sad and troubling and sometimes....yes sometimes beautiful. Greg Brown...fish (trout, fly fishing) obsessed, religious, atheist, humanist, Christian fundamentalist confusaholic. His CD “Slant 6 Mind” has some beautiful stuff on it and every CD has something to unearth but damn this man is tired and yet full of love for everything life throws. He is a good guitar strummer but wisely on this CD hooks up with Bo Ramsey on the electric side and it helps. Brown is a poet before he is a songwriter and his song structure, lyrical choices and phrasing are as interesting as anything Dylan ever threw at us. There are of course songs about love and women and how they rarely hook up anywhere but your head. There is social commentary but it needs to be looked for an inferred as he describes the landscape. Occasionally he hits you over the head with something like this line from Cooneville Slough:
“We came out of the country and drove into the cityscape -Like every other one in America, it's a black and white town.”
That is fine but most of it is nuance. Bleak but...tinged with a little joy and a little pleasure at the struggle. Just enough anyway to make getting up the next day worth the effort. This is an album of back ground music in front of a fire, not talking much...staring...listening and exchanging some soft words and some smiles as he occasionally strikes a beautiful chord. It is not a gem but it is good. We grade hard down at the diner....6 1/2 Slingers out of 10.
No comments:
Post a Comment