For the second straight review we get an album released in 1982. How can this happen, you ask? In the case of the CD Odyssey…randomly.
Disc 1886 is… Watch Your Step
Artist: Ted Hawkins
Year of Release: 1982
What’s up with the Cover? Ted poses outside of what looks like a prison complex. Possibly this is inside such a complex, as Hawkins was in state custody when this record came out.
How I Came To Know It: One of my musically inclined buddies brought this to my attention one night while we were all listening to music. I wrote it down but forgot I had done so for about a year (I am still getting used to using Notes on my phone instead of scraps of paper).
A year later, I found the note, but not only could I not remember who of the half dozen folks who were over that night had brought it around, neither could they. Whoever it was, thanks. Shortly after rediscovering my notes, I went out and bought this record at the local record store.
How It Stacks Up: This is my only Ted Hawkins album so it can’t stack up.
Ratings: 4 stars
Ted Hawkins is not afraid to walk dark paths, whether they are dodgy late night back alleys, or the even darker paths of the human heart. His music frequently features stark topics, that is filled with a warmth that invites you in to share the comfort of human companionship amidst the devastation.
Hawkins’ style defies genres, sitting somewhere at the nexus of soul, blues and folk. Most songs are accompanied by basic guitar strumming that is played in time and with feeling, but that won’t amaze you with technical skill.
His voice is similarly unadorned, with a natural weariness to it that sounds like Otis Redding if Otis was tired and maybe a little hungry. It’s a bit pale and wan, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that Hawkins isn’t compelling. His high and airy quaver instantly draws you in and sits you down at the kitchen table of his soul.
Like any good kitchen table, Hawkins’ songs can fill you up when you’re empty, but they can also be the place where hard topics are explored and challenged late into the evening. It’s the place where every gathering begins and ends, and where the most down-to-earth honest conversations occur. That’s a Ted Hawkins song.
The record’s title track is a fine example of hard conversations, as a not terribly sensitive man warns his wayward woman to “watch her step”. If that sounds like it’s laden with uncomfortable threats, you’d be right. The way Hawkins navigates the space between a man’s jealous rage, helpless love and ill-placed bravado isn’t heroic, but it does create a compelling character study. The song has a restless energy that approaches frantic, leaving the listener to feel the narrator’s quickening desire, but also the discomfort of rising emotion that could turn despondent or violent on a dime.
“The Lost Ones” is a song of young children suffering in abject poverty, with one parent sick and the other absent or dead. Hawkins’ high plaintive tone is the perfect vehicle for the anguish of kids without hope. The song expands the failure of the individual family into a general comment about the breakdown of social order all around them:
“I'd call the neighbors but I don't even know their names
They've lived there ten years, oh, ain't that a shame?
Don't think they'd help us even if I asked them to
We are the lost ones seeking help from you”
In this moment we mentally pan out from the plight of the children to the greater environment. I’ve known some bad neighbourhoods, but never one so bad you couldn’t go next door to get some help when you really needed it.
My favourite song on the record is “Sorry You’re Sick”. You realize early on that this isn’t the kind of sick you can ward off with a flu shot. It’s next level sickness, maybe alcohol withdrawal, or more likely something stronger still.
Here, our narrator is out to help his girl who is dope sick with withdrawal. The song’s beat is jaunty and upbeat, but you get the quick impression that the cure proposed (something from the liquor store) is more of a stop-gap for a deeper need. “Sorry You’re Sick” is vintage Hawkins, romantic and tragic in equal measure. It also features the finest vocal performance on the record, showing off a high near-falsetto that ably captures the keening of a soul in need of feeding a bad habit.
It's a testament to Hawkins’ talent as both a singer and a songwriter that he can explore so many bad choices and still sound hopeful and romantic. He’s broken in a dozen places, but there’s light shining out of the cracks that leaves us all a little sadder and wiser.
Best tracks: Bring it Home Daddy, If You Love Me, Don’t Lose Your Cool, The Lost Ones, Sorry You’re Sick, Watch Your Step (band version), I Gave Up All I Had
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