I’m on the last day of a long weekend spent visiting with all manner of relatives on both sides of the family. I’ve taken one extra day to compose myself before I return to work, and while the day is shaping up to have a lot of errand running, I’m starting things the right way – with a coffee and a music review.
Disc 1761 is…Day of the Dog
Artist: Ezra Furman
Year of Release: 2013
What’s up with the Cover? Ezra Furman looks awkward and anxious standing in front of some old building. This cover has the feel of a Jones Cola photo.
How I Came To Know It: I came late to Ezra Furman through their 2022 album “All of Us Flames” which was my second favourite album of 2022. I haven’t reviewed that album yet, but you can read the full Top 10 recap here where I hint at how great it is.
Later, a combination of hearing more Furman through my friend Casey, and watching the TV show “Sex Education” (which features Furman’s songs prominently) gave me the itch to dig into the back catalogue. And here we are.
How It Stacks Up: I have four Ezra Furman albums and I’m on the lookout for two more. Of the four I have, “Day of the Dog” comes in at #2.
Ratings: 5 stars
“Day of the Dog” is what would happen if you crossed the Cramps with Buddy Holly and threw in some Leonard Cohen-style poetry. Maybe add the horn section from a marching band for good measure. The result is music that cleaves to a simpler time in rock and roll, but in a way you’ve never heard before.
This cross-section of sound manifests itself with a distinct punk vibe. The production is tinny and scratchy and Furman’s vocals screech out with a manic anger that instantly draws you to the emotional core of each song. At any moment you think they’ll keel over from all the Goddamn feels being felt, but somehow the album just teeters and lurches forward, kept stable by a ballast of fearless and inspired songwriting.
That tinny production would usually put me off, and on my first couple of listens I found myself wondering how songs with bones as beautiful as these ones have would sound with a gentler, folksier delivery. I’m sure they would be great like that, but the more I immersed myself the more comfortable I became with the more frantic and anxiety-inducing choices that Furman made.
Given the reckless fury of the record, you may be surprised to hear how much horn happens. There is a lot of saxophone on this record, mostly employed to add swing and excitement to the songs. The sax player (Tim Sandusky) adds a jauntiness to the music that helps the sometimes stark lyrics go down easier. A little sweetness to let you know that while we’re going to cover some emotionally heavy stuff, rock and roll is also about having fun.
Not content with the kind of jauntiness a saxophone can provide, we are also treated to artful hand claps on “Anything Can Happen”. Hand claps make almost any song better, and “Anything Can Happen” features a lot of them. Just the right amount, as it happens.
It is hard to write a record this vulnerable and not cross over into bathos, but Furman manages to avoid it even while singing such stark lines as “I am broken wide open bleeding everywhere” on “The Mall”.
Furman’s musical curiosity knows no bounds. On “At the Bottom of the Ocean” she compares deep sea creatures with her emotional state and sets it all to a classic Bo Diddly guitar riff. It is fearless, fun and thought-provoking stuff and it works.
The record ends with “Cherry Lane” a song with a romantic and breezy summer structure, until you listen more closely and see that the street of Furman’s fond reverie is actually a bit dodgy:
“Past the wounded cars reflecting all their dirty light
Past the unnamed bars, the unnamed prisoners of the night
Past the Winnebago dreaming all its iron dreams
Past the haunted drugstore where the fortune teller leans
Past the gravel parking lot where blood is always blood
Past the storefront church where they say God made Man from mud
There you'll find the broken toys who chased their love in vain
If you wander over yonder down my Cherry Lane”
This juxtaposition of musical styles that speak to simpler and happier time, mixed with difficult topics – both internal and societal – is at the core of what makes “Day of the Dog” a perfect record. It is a record that will make you tap your foot and sing along with joy, but it will make you think some dark and complicated thoughts while you’re doing it.
Best tracks: all tracks
