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| Track list: 1. This Song 2. Cheap Hotel 3. Don't Ask Why 4. Foolproof 5. Tell Me Again 6. Just My Heart Talkin' 7. Not Too Big 8. Miracle in Itself 9. Thirsty Love 10. Never Been Done 11. Thumbelina Farewell 12. Parable 13. Keep It in Mind 14. Fallen Running time: 41 minutes Released: 2001 |
I wish I could recall what got me to pick up this album. It was my entry into the works of Ron Sexsmith, and was a real favourite for a while. I have drifted away from his music of late, stopped buying new releases (I don't have his latest couple of albums) and not really listened to any that I have for quite some time. This is a welcome excuse to retread old ground and see if I can reconnect.
We start with a pleasing meta-song, its incredibly easy listening. Simple structure, nice little roll and Sexsmith's slightly off-kilter voice. I seem to have a bit of a penchant for singers where things are almost as broken as they are pristine. Meanwhile the song swells, horns adding it a depth and a volume to keep it ticking. I can see why Ron Sexsmith ended up being a prolific songwriter for other people without ever making it big himself.
I just love the timbre of the guitar lead on Cheap Hotel, whilst the sadness of the song is palpable. Just as I remember, the start of this album is pretty strongly up my street, and after a breeze through low rent accomodation Don't Ask Why adds an injection of life. Here a catchy tune and a nice full sound picks us up. The change up for the chorus is really effective at shifting the mood and creating themes in the music. I hadn't realised the ooohs and aaahs that form the backing when we hit the second chorus before - and I suspect I may have missed them in the first instance this time. This is a pretty bright little pop song really. My memory is that the album doesn't keep up this hit rate all the way through though, and Foolproof's stripped back, slow dance number fails to charm me. Its the sort of tune that makes me feel it could have been a massive hit 5 decades earlier and sung by a crooner of the era, and could probably be a major crowd-pleaser for modern knock-offs too. Ronald Eldon Sexsmith may have penned it but somehow the overriding impression is that his voice lacks the cachet to carry it off.
And yet. It is that same lack of security, a slight wobble, a rough edge in his voice that attracts me to his music. That and a knack for finding little melodies that are far more engaging and enjoyable than one might expect them to be. There's nothing epic, grand or posturing about his tunes, they're just tight and interesting enough to do their job and catchy enough to get you nodding along or tapping a foot or something. In a similar vein, the songs aren't singalong at full volume, or even mouth the words in appreciation, candidates but neither are they vapid little love songs.
I've hit half way already - these songs are short, radio friendly and all that. Not Too Big is a different feel again, snappy percussion, talking about loneliness in crowds. It has a downbeat kind of kick, bass-heavy, not much melody. It's damn catchy - the snap to the snare, the handclaps, the bass riff - somehow all speak to inactivity whilst maintaining a groove. It's a lovely piece of composition. Just to show range, the next track is a piano melody that I could listen to over and over - though I think the strings on Miracle in Itself aren't great in places and that the tune as a whole could do with a greater depth of sound. There is a tumbledown, accidental air to it.
I think I once saw a documentary following Sexsmith through the process of recording and releasing an album where his comparative success as a writer (with fellow Canucks Feist and Michael Bublé - the only time that tag will get used! - among those to have covered him) and the niche reach of his own releases came up. A quick Google turns up Love Shines, which suggests I wasn't going mad. This one album showcases a range of songs that makes it hard to see why concerted attempts to grow his own audience failed. With a bit more backing, a bit more production on the tracks, some of them could be huge. And yet (again). To do so would probably rob them of a charm, an understatement that is a key component of his songwriting.
Blue Boy starts strong, but I think it is fair to say the second half of the record does not quite live up to that promise. Though as I try to think why I feel that is fair, every criticism I was going to turn out gets disproved by the next track to start. I'd forgotten the pleasantness of the melody in Parable for example. I think this track has problems - the percussion is too loud relative to everything else, and there isn't really enough to set off the light touch of the guitar, and Sexsmith's voice is perhaps as not quite there as it gets on this disc given the style of delivery too. That said, the strength of that core line and the general ambiance of the tune are so... nice.
Keep It In Mind is the proof that my theory of the second half being poor is garbage. This tune has a fantastic cadence change between verse and chorus based on the change of rhythm. The guitar work is tinny in a studied way, minimalist and very effective. It's foot-tappingly great for the first 2 minutes before making a poor decision not to close out and carries on with improvised vocal, weakening what went before. Fallen is another ballad, noodled guitar and brushed drums create a soft and sweet melody but there is a sadness in Sexsmith's voice that is hard to escape - I think it is a natural artefact of the slightly flattened way he seems to reach the notes because it's not really a sad song. It is the final song on the disc, though. In summary? I still really like this album, but I can see very clearly why I stopped listening to it as much and, if I am honest, why I felt I didn't need to continue buying Sexsmith's records: I don't think the others match up that well to this. I do have a fair few more to listen to though, so maybe I'll prove myself wrong again!
We start with a pleasing meta-song, its incredibly easy listening. Simple structure, nice little roll and Sexsmith's slightly off-kilter voice. I seem to have a bit of a penchant for singers where things are almost as broken as they are pristine. Meanwhile the song swells, horns adding it a depth and a volume to keep it ticking. I can see why Ron Sexsmith ended up being a prolific songwriter for other people without ever making it big himself.
I just love the timbre of the guitar lead on Cheap Hotel, whilst the sadness of the song is palpable. Just as I remember, the start of this album is pretty strongly up my street, and after a breeze through low rent accomodation Don't Ask Why adds an injection of life. Here a catchy tune and a nice full sound picks us up. The change up for the chorus is really effective at shifting the mood and creating themes in the music. I hadn't realised the ooohs and aaahs that form the backing when we hit the second chorus before - and I suspect I may have missed them in the first instance this time. This is a pretty bright little pop song really. My memory is that the album doesn't keep up this hit rate all the way through though, and Foolproof's stripped back, slow dance number fails to charm me. Its the sort of tune that makes me feel it could have been a massive hit 5 decades earlier and sung by a crooner of the era, and could probably be a major crowd-pleaser for modern knock-offs too. Ronald Eldon Sexsmith may have penned it but somehow the overriding impression is that his voice lacks the cachet to carry it off.
And yet. It is that same lack of security, a slight wobble, a rough edge in his voice that attracts me to his music. That and a knack for finding little melodies that are far more engaging and enjoyable than one might expect them to be. There's nothing epic, grand or posturing about his tunes, they're just tight and interesting enough to do their job and catchy enough to get you nodding along or tapping a foot or something. In a similar vein, the songs aren't singalong at full volume, or even mouth the words in appreciation, candidates but neither are they vapid little love songs.
I've hit half way already - these songs are short, radio friendly and all that. Not Too Big is a different feel again, snappy percussion, talking about loneliness in crowds. It has a downbeat kind of kick, bass-heavy, not much melody. It's damn catchy - the snap to the snare, the handclaps, the bass riff - somehow all speak to inactivity whilst maintaining a groove. It's a lovely piece of composition. Just to show range, the next track is a piano melody that I could listen to over and over - though I think the strings on Miracle in Itself aren't great in places and that the tune as a whole could do with a greater depth of sound. There is a tumbledown, accidental air to it.
I think I once saw a documentary following Sexsmith through the process of recording and releasing an album where his comparative success as a writer (with fellow Canucks Feist and Michael Bublé - the only time that tag will get used! - among those to have covered him) and the niche reach of his own releases came up. A quick Google turns up Love Shines, which suggests I wasn't going mad. This one album showcases a range of songs that makes it hard to see why concerted attempts to grow his own audience failed. With a bit more backing, a bit more production on the tracks, some of them could be huge. And yet (again). To do so would probably rob them of a charm, an understatement that is a key component of his songwriting.
Blue Boy starts strong, but I think it is fair to say the second half of the record does not quite live up to that promise. Though as I try to think why I feel that is fair, every criticism I was going to turn out gets disproved by the next track to start. I'd forgotten the pleasantness of the melody in Parable for example. I think this track has problems - the percussion is too loud relative to everything else, and there isn't really enough to set off the light touch of the guitar, and Sexsmith's voice is perhaps as not quite there as it gets on this disc given the style of delivery too. That said, the strength of that core line and the general ambiance of the tune are so... nice.
Keep It In Mind is the proof that my theory of the second half being poor is garbage. This tune has a fantastic cadence change between verse and chorus based on the change of rhythm. The guitar work is tinny in a studied way, minimalist and very effective. It's foot-tappingly great for the first 2 minutes before making a poor decision not to close out and carries on with improvised vocal, weakening what went before. Fallen is another ballad, noodled guitar and brushed drums create a soft and sweet melody but there is a sadness in Sexsmith's voice that is hard to escape - I think it is a natural artefact of the slightly flattened way he seems to reach the notes because it's not really a sad song. It is the final song on the disc, though. In summary? I still really like this album, but I can see very clearly why I stopped listening to it as much and, if I am honest, why I felt I didn't need to continue buying Sexsmith's records: I don't think the others match up that well to this. I do have a fair few more to listen to though, so maybe I'll prove myself wrong again!
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