The last Jeff Bell release I reviewed was 2014's Songs From No One In Particular; an album I liked well enough. I made sure to go back and listen to that album before reviewing this one to see how Jeff has progressed. He has gotten more grizzled and a little bit more lovelorn, it seems.
The album opens with the very short and rather throwaway Parallel Worlds, which is basically a kids birthday party scene. That then gives way to the first proper tune, Okie Song which is nice and grizzled with some good thunder and rain sounds as if he's playing it on his porch as the storm begins. With vocals that sound like they are being sung into a closet, will the object of the song come to their senses or not?
Short Sell is a great song full of honking brass over Jeff's normal Steve Earle-alike vocals as he gets all het up over what's gone wrong in his relationship. Achilles Heel slows things down and asks about suicides as the sax plays in the background and the music makes you think about what's going down. This is a very clever song. I like how the pace picks up after he says she has driven him to drink to show the level of desperation he has sunk to.
You is a slowed down look at how he sees himself in you. That flashes by in a moment or two before the almost nursery rhyme-like UK Plantation Blues kicks in. This starts with a field holler and then comes in with the accordion and acoustic guitar to have a go at all the Gang masters out there like he's been listening to plenty of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee albums.
Feral has plenty of angry guitars fizzing all over it as Jeff has a good rant. Always Been The Same feels a little bit more upbeat as he tries to keep the debt collectors at bay while trying to evade the tax man but as he's not some Tory or Plutocrat they want their pound of flesh. Yes it has always been the same - the taxman always wants paying no matter how much sax you throw at them.
Distance takes Jeff back to his default Steve Earle-alike songs of darkness and when they are done this well is fine by me. Please opens with a piano solo that sounds like early 70's Neil Young but with the high, keening vocals substituted by Jeff's grizzled voice pleading for his love not to leave him. It's sad and slightly sorrowful but a cool song nonetheless.
|
Between the Bars is about being on a drunken binge rather than being in prison. It's almost like a slightly upbeat Tom Waits song if you can imagine Tom's vocals being easier to figure out. He wants her to drink up and get going but I'm sure she wants to stay for just one more drink, who will win out, we wonder?
I love the baritone sax. I think it is on Against The Tide where it sounds like something I'd expect to hear on a late 70's Lou Reed album. It's a very cool, dirty, sludgy sound and in the song Jeff Swims against the tide. It's cool even when I realize (to my surprise) that it's an Elliot Smith cover as I don't like too much of Elliot's music.
Sun Shines Down is a little doleful like he really wishes is was cloudy or raining no matter how much he feels it in his soul. Oh and it has a really cool scratchy guitar solo. Orange Glow is just a slow song of regret as his time stands still
Shadows is another Steve Earle-raiding song of regret. Desert Storm doesn't seem to be about that world, more about another relationship breakdown built around cool guitars and Jeff's grizzled vocals.
Talk About It follows the album's normal threads and sounds pretty cool as he gets all het up about the fact that he needs some help to get by. It almost gets histrionic (or is that just the interplay between the guitar and the vocals?) but either way I think it works pretty damn well.
The album closes with Era's Song. This starts off with a slow strum as he questions whatever happened to trade unions and how things have changed in the era of globalisation. It's a nice plea for unionization to make a comeback. It's also a nice end to a good album.
You can find out more about the new album and some of Jeff's previous work at Jeff Bell online
|
