Marlowe's Revenge is the second installment of Dan Stuart's alter ego Marlowe Billings following on from 2012's The Deliverance Of Marlowe Billings. He is now recovered enough to be ready for some revenge and to help him in this goal he has teamed up with young Mexican hot shots Twin Tones to stick the knife into those that Dan wishes to wreak vengeance upon.
From the opening Hola Guapa we are in classic neo-desert blues territory as Dan tells the tale of the Guapa who got hit by a bus over urgent guitars and some nicely restrained drumming.
Elena feels more like a love letter to a woman who is regularly spurning his advances but why would she resist as the guitars draw us in and Dan implores her to accept his love and to be his. Last Blue Day is more reflective with slowly strummed guitars shuffling along as Dan banishes his depression on his last blue day as things will improve. Indeed, as soon as the organ solo kicks in, things are looking up.
Soy Un Hombre is a sad tale of the woman who has left him for another hombre less worthy of her affections. It plays out over some soaring guitars and slow almost mournful percussion as Dan carefully delivers the words to hurt and also to show how hurt he is by the betrayal as he switches effortlessly between English and Spanish.
The Whores From Above sounds almost like it should be a Neil Young song as Dan sings about how he thought he should still be dancing with his love but instead is dancing with the Whores from above. The organ works brilliantly on this song with the guitars adding emphasis on certain lines as the tale unfolds.
All Over You has great distorted guitars raging though it with some almost whispered vocals as Dan tries to make his dreams come true once more. A cool and very short song. Name Hog is equally brief as Dan sneers about some over-productive artist that puts out records every other day obviously without the quality control needed to be great (unlike Danny boy of course) as the acoustic guitars do everything they can to not be confused with Mariachi guitar.
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Zipolite however stretches things out and opens like he's sitting on a beach watching the world go by. Things change and he tells the tale of what happens on the beach as the snare drum almost taps out a slow marching beat in time for the muted trumpet to come in and teach those hippies a lesson as to what you should and shouldn't do on Dan's beach and no, we don't want any more sacrifices.
Over My Shoulder sounds very similar to some of Dan's earlier songs and has that classic feel to it as he looks at what happened to that Love that deserted him. it's a beautiful song of regret.
The album closes with The Knife: a slow rumination on what life is and is it possible to explain what a good life? Dunno, but the whispered vocals over the slow bass and organ sounds wring as much empathy as they can out of it and it makes for a a beautiful downbeat ending.
The Mexican life is certainly helping Dan Stuart to keep producing great records and this one is well worth hearing.
Fine out more at Marlowe Billings online
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