After completing a couple of
artists in consecutive weeks, we return to what usually happens on the CD
Odyssey: a Steve Earle review.
I’ve had an eventful week, and a
little Steve Earle has been just what the doctor ordered to calm my troubled
nerves.
Disc 438 is… Transcendental Blues
Year of Release: 2000
What’s up with the Cover? Another Tony Fitzpatrick art piece. Steve Earle loves this guy but as long-time
readers will know, I don’t. This isn’t
his worst, which isn’t saying much. It
kind of looks like Little Shop of Horrors re-imagined as an extra-terrestrial
quilting bee. If only it were as cool as
that sounds.
How I Came To Know It: I’ve known Steve Earle
since his first album. I bought
“Transcendental Blues” a few years after it came out, as I worked on completing
my collection at the time.
How It Stacks Up: I have sixteen Steve Earle albums, but one is live
and the other is all Townes Van Zandt remakes.
Both are great, but I don’t include them in the rankings. Of those I do include, I’ve got to
reluctantly put “Transcendental Blues” last, or 14th.
Rating: 3 stars
If after
eleven previous reviews there were any doubt how much I like Steve Earle,
giving my least favourite album three stars should put those doubts to rest.
After
dabbling heavily with bluegrass on 1999’s “The Mountain,” “Transcendental
Blues” comes back to the more traditional late-period Steve Earle sound of
roots rock and country. The songs here
mix in electric neo-Copperhead Road guitar with the gentler “I’m sober now”
sound that Earle has brilliantly discovered in the last ten years of his
career.
Standouts
include the title track, which finds Earle once again in his comfort zone,
crooning a highway song, musing:
“Back roads never carry you where
you want ‘em to
They leave you standin’ there
with them ol’ transcendental blues.”
The song
shows Steve in transition from the hungry days of his early records, but not
yet crossed over into the angry, frustrated songs of 2002’s “Jerusalem.” It is a nice balance of spirit, and the
record is aptly named. Also, while not
listed in the liner notes, I’m sure I hear a bodhran playing low early in the title
track. I’m a sucker for the bodhran.
Unfortunately,
at times it feels like this record is straddling too many worlds at the same
time. His heavy, reverb rock sound is
present here, but it isn’t as fully developed as it is on “Jerusalem.” In places it just sounds like an annoying
drone that is distracting from otherwise great songs. He tries adding classical strings to songs
like “The Boy Who Never Cried” but
while it’s ambitious it doesn’t quite come together. Also, as much as I’d like to approach Transcendental
Blues” on its own terms, I can’t help but note that it pales in comparison to
the record comes after it. It made me want
to go put “Jerusalem” on and listen to it instead.
The
record also breaks the fourteen song limit.
True, it is only one song over and with many of them short the record
doesn’t drag or make me fidgety waiting for it to end. Nevertheless, it is a bit uneven, and I think
leaving two or three tracks on the studio floor would’ve improved the overall
quality. It also would’ve helped make
individual tracks stand out. Apart from “Galway Girl” the record is solid but
lacks the peaks and valleys that help set each song apart from the other.
Earle
also breaks the “production out-takes” rule, putting pointless comments at the
ends or beginnings of songs. It is supposed
to give the record a relaxed feel, but instead make it sound unedited. You’re a brilliant songwriter, Steve, but I came
for the show, not to poke around behind the curtain.
These
are minor quibbles, mind you. We are
talking about Steve Earle, after all, and the man’s genius will quickly make
you forget any small problems as he delivers each song with a full emotional
commitment to every single track.
Standouts
include the aforementioned “Galway Girl”,
a brilliant re-imagining of how Celtic folk music would sound, if it had been
written by Texans. It’s a classic that
still survives into set lists on current tours, and I’m always glad to hear it
come on. Also it features a bodhran and a tin whistle. An embarrassment of riches
“Galway Girl’s” jumpy, free-spirited roll
is perfectly followed up with “Lonelier
Than This,” featuring no bodhran, and no whistle; just Steve Earle’s voice,
drenched with emotion, first with a somber acoustic guitar, and then a little
light percussion and electric guitar played high to add a little wistful to the
sad because – you know – they go well together.
The
final two tracks are the raucous and rebellious “All My Life”, followed immediately by the broken confessional, “Over Yonder (Johnathan’s Song).” “Over
Yonder” tells the tale of a death-row inmate heading for his execution, at
peace with where he thinks he’s going.
It isn’t as powerful as other Earle tracks on the same subject (“Billy Austin” from 1990’s “The Hard Way” or “Ellis Unit One” from 2002’s
“Sidetracks”) but it is pretty good, and as ever Earle once again shows us the
humanity in those that many would just as soon conveniently forget.
Yes the
record is a bit long, and the production falters in places, but by the end of
it I couldn’t deny Steve Earle had once again demonstrated why he is – and always
will be – an artist that moves and inspires me every time I hear him.
Best tracks: Transcendental Blues, Steve’s Last Ramble, The
Galway Girl, Lonelier Than This, Over Yonder (Johnathan’s Song)
No comments:
Post a Comment