I had a fun night out last night
at the Victoria Art Gallery’s “Urbanite” event. It was great to have a place
for people to gather and get a little dressed up. I ran into people I knew,
people I sorta knew and strangers that I made new connections with, which is
pretty much the perfect night out.
Disc 1074 is…The Delicious Wolves
Artist: Hawksley
Workman
Year of Release: 2001, 2002 or 2003.
Wikipedia thinks it is 2001, Windows Media Player thinks it is 2002 and the
liner notes suggest 2003. The artist’s website indicates it is 2001, which
seems to be the most definitive source, so let’s go with that. That site also
had it with a different cover, so maybe mine is a reissue. Trying to figure it
out was a hot mess, just like this damned record.
What’s up with the Cover? An out of focus Hawksley Workman
tries to be cool. That about sums up this record.
How I Came To Know It: Sheila was into Hawksley Workman
back in the day, so this is one of hers. I also liked a couple of songs but more on that shortly.
How It Stacks Up: We have two Hawksley Workman albums, this one
and Lover/Fighter (reviewed back at Disc 500). Of the two, I prefer
Lover/Fighter by a large margin.
Ratings: 2 stars
Technically
this album is called “(last night we were) The Delicious Wolves.” This is an awkwardly
pretentious title, but once you listen to the record you realize it is entirely
appropriate.
Workman
starts things off on the right foot, with his two best songs (“Striptease” and “Jealous of Your Cigarette”) coming 1-2 in the lineup and giving you
a reasonable expectation of quality to follow. Both songs are sexy and funky. “Striptease” has a cool production, with techno
beats playing off traditional guitar riffs. “Jealous of Your Cigarette” is a little crazy with its strange
staccato opening, but the B section has such a cool hip-swingin’ groove you
forgive the frantic and unfocused opening. These are two quality songs.
Unfortunately,
it seems that with two songs under his belt that are enjoyable, Workman seems to
think he’s done his duty to the folks who want to hear something nice, and he
can now spend the rest of the record showing off how far he can push his sound.
I respect that he is pursuing his art and striving to “find the new sound” but
the result is an unfocused jumble filled with half-explored notions liberally
slathered with excess production.
Throughout
the record Workman shows off his strong voice, singing low in the back of his
throat and floating into falsetto with equal ease. Despite this, the delivery didn’t
hold any emotional gravitas for me. He bangs away on pianos, and creates riffs
and melodies that have a lot of promise, but then he combines them with other
almost-working melodies and a bunch of layers of percussion and what-not that
just left me frustrated with what could have been.
Lyrically,
there isn’t much going on here. Lines like “I’m
jealous of your cigarette/and all the things you do with it” are clever and
sexy but they feel like one-offs rather than parts of more thoughtful and
cohesive themes. And that’s on one of the good songs.
The low
point can be found on “Your Beauty Must
Be Rubbing Off” where he channels his best Beatnik poet voice and deadpans
“cacophony” then a dramatic pause followed
by “caca…phony.” Get it? Because it
is fake and also like poop? Or something like that. It is certainly like poop.
By the
time “Dirty and True” comes along 10
songs in there isn’t anywhere to go but down. We get treated to what I think is
supposed to be alternative rock. Lots of bizarre and jarring piano sounds mixed
with the clash and clang of rock chords, and falsetto singing that sounds like
it is pulled from some high school musical written by Andrew Lloyd Webber when
he was 15.
It leads
into the album’s final track, “Lethal and
Young” where an echoing piano bangs away as Workman does his best impression
of Roger Watters at the end of “The Wall” to make us all feel thankful that
we’ve gone beyond the wall of whatever musical theatre that has just been inflicted
on us. It was a far cry from “The Wall” but I have to admit I was glad it was over.
On his
next album, “Lover/Fighter,” Workman succeeds in pushing the boundaries of pop
in a way that was both enjoyable and thoughtful. Knowing he can do it made the
hot mess of “The Delicious Wolves” all the more annoying. I guess to make an omelet,
you gotta break a few eggs.
Best
tracks: Striptease,
Jealous of Your Cigarette
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