CD Odyssey Disc 1074: Hawksley Workman

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

CD Odyssey Disc 500: Hawksley Workman

Last night Sheila and I had a fun night of games and drinks with friends.  Now I am up and ready to tackle this review, albeit with a slight hangover.

This is also my 500^th review!  Happy arbitrary number day to me!  I’ll also be doing a little recap, as is my wont when I reach such manufactured milestones.

Disc 500 is… Lover/Fighter

Artist: Hawksley Workman

Year of Release: 2003

What’s up with the Cover?  Like Tracy Chapman’s “New Beginning” this album has two covers – so here they both are!  Apparently they are thematic – one is Hawksley Workman as “lover” looking wounded and vulnerable in a ‘pale and wan poet’ sort of way.  The other is Hawksley as “fighter” dressed up in what he apparently thinks makes him look like a tough-guy outfit.  It actually makes him look like a pale and wan poet who is trying too hard.  These covers would be completely irredeemable except for the fact that they are unintentionally hilarious.

How I Came To Know It:  Sheila is the fan of Hawksley Workman so she bought this album after hearing a couple songs on the radio (Hawksley was a big thing back in the early oughts).  I also knew about him through a woman I worked with about ten years ago who was a big fan.

How It Stacks Up:  We only have two Hawksley Workman albums, this one and the preceding year’s “The Delicious Wolves.”  Of the two, this is the better record.  We used to have a third album, 2006’s “Treeful of Starlings” which after we heard it was about as welcome as the starling is to the Canadian ecosystem.  It was sold shortly after we got it.

Rating:  3 stars but close to 4.

“Lover/Fighter” is an awkward title for an album, but it ably describes the record’s themes, which revolve around desire and how it drives us to all sorts of dumb, divisive but beautiful things.

The songs are deeply romantic in places, but Workman infuses them all with a bit of sadness or discord.  Song titles like “Wonderful and Sad” and “Anger as Beauty” are indicative of the kind of duality Workman is going for throughout the record.  In places it edges toward bathos, but overall he keeps the ship afloat.

The style is classic Canadian pop, where the riffs are good but subdued into the arrangement (we Canadians are so polite, even with our guitar solos) and the urge to include a lot of piano or other instrumentation is rarely denied.

Workman has a wonderful pop voice, with a lot of range that he keeps tastefully restrained when he sings.  There is nothing worse in pop music than excessive warbling just for the sake of showing off (think Mariah Carey or most of the American Idol contestants that fawn over her).  Workman climbs up the scale only when the song calls for it.

The highlight of the record was also a single, the unfortunately titled “No Reason To Cry Out Your Eyes (On the Highway Tonight).” The song is brilliantly arranged, with cooing backup singers and a groovy little synthesizer riff that makes you want to dance around.  Of course if you’re driving, please restrain yourself.

The lyrics of the song aren’t terribly memorable, with Workman reminding you that the cars you seen on a highway at night are filled with tons of people crying; lost in their own misery.  Despite the theme the tune is uplifting, a soothing hug for people quietly suffering.  Hey, it seems to say, here’s a hug and a cup of hot cocoa, you’ll be OK.

“Smoke, Baby” was another hit and it has a sexy, sultry vibe to it.  This is a song to turn the lights down low and shut the cat out of the bedroom.  It would be perfect except for a strange decision to put an awkward rap section at the bridge by some woman called “Graph Nobel” who is apparently another Canadian pop artist.  She raps well enough, but I just don’t think it adds to the song.

Earlier this week I decided against going to see KISS when they come to town.  This was partly because it wouldn’t be the same without Ace Frehley and partly because I am just sick and tired of Gene Simmons and his constant self-promotion.  These thoughts were in my head listening to “Even An Ugly Man” which goes:

“Even an ugly man

Could kiss your lips

As if they were his to demand of

Or his to destroy like a lover of a demon.”

I doubt this song is about Gene Simmons, but I like to pretend that it is.

The album has a slight air of smugness about it that I don’t like.  This is not surprising from a singer who feels the need to change his name from Ryan Corrigan – a perfectly good name – to Hawksley Workman, which is not measurably any cooler.  That’s the kind of ego that will lead you to put silly pictures of yourself on your album covers.

After the ten listed tracks, there are two hidden ones, which was an annoying quality of CDs from this era.  Both are OK – in fact the first one, “Ilfracombe” is really cool.  The song is half exploration of the pros and cons of motorbikes, and half a philosophical treatise on how sometimes our desire for a free, unfettered life can have a hint of decay and wastefulness about it.  There’s that “Lover/Fighter” duality again!

Regardless of whether I like the two extra songs, there is no real reason to not just include them as songs 11 and 12 – still tastefully within my fourteen song maximum (for those just joining the Odyssey train, I think most albums with more than fourteen songs should have left something on the cutting room floor).

This album was a critical darling when it came out, and it is easy to see why.  It is ambitious pop music, and Workman seems willing to push the envelope of pop music, which is a genre in desperate need of such treatment.  It isn’t perfect, but it is a good album that doesn’t settle for easy wins.

Best tracks:  We Will Still Need a Song, No Reason To Cry Out Your Eyes (On the Highway Tonight), Smoke Baby, Autumn’s Here, Ilfracombe