It’s been a lovely weekend,
starting with a Friday night dinner date with my lovely wife, then a lazy Saturday afternoon wandering town
with a buddy. After a couple of nights of drinking I’m looking forward to a
quiet and restorative Sunday.
I also managed to find time to buy
five new albums because hey, that’s what I do. They are:
- First Aid Kit “The
Big Black & the Blue”
- Gillian Welch “Soul
Journey”
- Justin Townes
Earle “Kids in the Street”
- Jason Isbell
and the 400 Unit “The Nashville Sound”
- Caroline Rose “I
Will Not Be Afraid”
Coming soon (or not so soon,
depending on how the dice roll) to a blog near you.
Disc 1020 is…Sleep is for the Week
Artist: Frank
Turner
Year of Release: 2007
What’s up with the Cover? A guy looks out the window. He
looks concerned, but if the buildings in my neighbourhood were that ramshackle
I’d be concerned as well. He’s probably concerned they’re going to fall over,
which would account for his pale skin: he’s probably too afraid to go outside.
How I Came To Know It: This was just me digging into
Frank Turner’s back catalogue. Although this is the earliest album of his that
I have, I bought it last because for a while it was very hard to find. I assume
they reprinted it recently.
How It Stacks Up: I have six Frank Turner albums which in terms
of full length studio albums is all of them. I really liked “Sleep is for the
Week” but competition among Frank Turner albums is fierce. I put it fifth, just
ahead of “Positive Songs for Negative People”.
Ratings: 4 stars
While “Sleep
is for the Week” is Frank Turner’s first solo release, he was already a
seasoned musician by 2007 from previous projects like “Million Dead.” This
musical maturity is in evidence on “Sleep is for the Week,” which shows good
range and thoughtful lyrics to go with Turner’s relative youthful exuberance (he
was 26).
If you’re
more familiar with Frank’s later releases (as I was) then “Sleep is for the
Week” will feel a bit softer and folksier. Frank still rocks out in places, but
the album relies a lot on acoustic guitar strumming and a stripped down
production. This is a good thing, as it lets the vocals come to the fore, where
Frank’s inspirational lyrics can hit with maximum impact.
Turner’s
songs always feel intensely personal and autobiographical. He draws you in and
makes you feel like he’s sharing a moment with you. It can be a moment of
protest, regret or just a celebratory anthem, but he is the master of creating a
moment. I think it is a big reason his fans (me included) are so dedicated,
often following him around through multiple tour dates, singing every word back
to him like we wrote it ourselves.
The album
begins with one of my all-time favourite Frank Turner songs. “The Real Damage” is a song about
wondering whether your party lifestyle is sustainable, and whether you even want
it to be anymore:
“I woke up on a sofa in an
unfamiliar house
Surrounded by sleeping folks that
I didn’t know
On failing to find my friends
I decided that it was clearly
time to go.”
It is a
conversation most of us have with ourselves at around 26, but Frank being
Frank, turns it into an existential crisis:
“It was about then that I
realized I was
Half-way through
The best years of my life.”
Having
had a bit of the old self-destructive path in my youth, I have awaked on that
same sofa, with the same regret-filled thoughts. Fortunately, I got better, but
it is fun to safely revisit the experience through song.
Like a
lot of the songs on this record, “The
Real Damage” doesn’t have a traditional chorus, so much as it has a couple
of musical concepts that play back and forth against each other as Turner
unfolds a narrative. For all this, he always manages to hit high points that
make you want to sing along.
Turner’s
albums often feature heartbreak, and “Sleep is for the Week” has plenty to
offer. “Romantic Fatigue” is about
how all those failed efforts at relationships help fuel his songwriting, and “Worse Things Happen At Sea” is that
awful final conversation had with a person you used to love, right before you
sling your bag over your shoulder and head out to look for a new place to live.
When
Turner gets political, it is always from an intensely personal perspective. “Once We Were Anarchists” is a about
wanting to change the world, but just feeling worn down. As Turner tells it:
“The times they aren’t a-changing
Yeah, England’s still shit and
its still raining
And everybody’s jaded, tired and
bored.”
I think
of this song as a prequel to “Love, Ire
and Song” a song where he shakes off his lethargy and calls his audience to
action. On “Once We Were Anarchists”
Turner is still wallowing, but it is an honest and self-examined wallow.
Overall,
“Sleep is for the Week” is the soundtrack for being in your mid-twenties. These
are songs about re-examining watershed moments of youth, reconsidering what
kind of world you want to live in, and (hopefully) growing into the person you
want to be. Coming to this album in your mid-forties is just as affecting
though, because it reminds you that those questions never get fully answered,
but you’ve got to keep asking them all the same.
Best tracks: The Real Damage, Father’s Day,
Once We Were Anarchists, Wisdom Teeth, The Ballad of Me and My Friends
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