Dispatches From The Frontline

A packed autumn gig schedule has got underway with Brighton club sets from two festival favourites earlier in the year:

• Ahab played the Latest Bar on the 22nd and were great. They were in fine voice; their playing is tight and they can always find another gear to lift a strong song higher; and they're very funny and engaging. A nice chat with mandolinist Luke Price afterwards. Still at an early stage in their career, with just two EPs to their name - which I strongly recommend you pick up - they asked the sound man at one point how many songs they had left 'we're only asking because we don't know many'. I hope they can continue in this vein as they, inevitably, get bigger. 

• Cloud Control were at Audio last night and I'm afraid I left disappointed. A significantly bigger crowd than last week, enthusiastic and seemingly familiar with the songs - mostly drawn from their wonderful first album but with encouaging new additions. But - as at the Great Escape - they were just too loud. On record there are lovely subtleties to their arrangements, sweet harmonies and intriguing lyrics. Live, they are sacrificing that for an (admittedly powerful) thump and drive and energy. Nice to see Heidi playing guitar on a couple of songs; odd to see Alister celebrating a hot Indian summer in an anorak with the hood up... I might stick to the records till they calm down a bit

Back to Laura and Tom

You may have been expecting a Laura Marling review next - I know I was. But my dear daughter has said an awful lot of what I would have done here and said it better than I would have done. More of an 8.5 on my scoreboard than the 7.2 there, but otherwise Jess has it pinned...

Tom Russell's Mesabi? Oh well, I suppose so.

I don't like giving heroes bad reviews, but I fear this album is one of his dodgier ones. It's streaming here, so give it a listen and make up your own mind.

The title track is a good opener: setting Bob Dylan's childhood against Tom's and their shared hope of escape through music ('don't let me do the work my father did'), driven by Calexico's pumping brass and a strutting beat, and featuring the fine description of the Mesabi iron range as 'the Bethlehem of the troubadour kid"... But too much of what follows strikes me as either wet or clumsy or both.

Tom's always had a sentimental streak (what country writer doesn't?) but the catch is seldom far from his throat here, along with lines like

Christmas Day can break a man in two

When he's drunk, in the kitchen all alone

And the children don't call...

Come on, lad: get a grip.

The other problem is that he's got a lot of true stories he wants to tell: about child stars, self-loathing actors, the voice of Jiminy Cricket - but interesting stories don't necessarily make great songs. And when prosaic lines like

When Walt Disney terminated Bobby Driscoll's contract

seem to be required a writer's alarm bells should be ringing.

It's something of a relief when Tom goes back to the more familiar territory of Juarez and the borderline - 'Jai Alai', 'Goodnight, Juarez', 'And God Created Border Towns' (and had he not, I'm sure Tom would have done it for him; he must be on commission from the Mexican Tourist Board with all the namechecks...)

It's nice to hear Lucinda Williams duetting on 'A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall', but they take it too slow - it's not one to drag out. Then we're back onto a more even keel with the closer, 'Road To Nowhere', with nice brass, shimmering electric guitar and a bouncing beat - if you ignore some rather hackneyed lyrics.

So, disappointing, all in all. Particularly following his last release, Blood And Candle Smoke, which was, for me, his strongest and most consistent record since the classic Borderland back in 2001. Tom's one of the great songwriters. If you're not yet persuaded of that, those albums are the place to start. And to encourage you on your way, try this...

La Rentrée

Funny how a few trips away disrupt the normal business... I am reminded that the site has been somewhat content-lite for a while (thanks, Mark) and there's a fair amount to catch up on after the summer.

First off, another plug for the wonderful Secret Sessions, a site of music and interviews bound to introduce you to some new things which will become fixtures in your life. My two favourite sets of Secret Sessioners so far are Other Lives and Givers, two young American bands of very different styles. You can read a review of Other Lives' new album Tamer Animals here. 

Givers are a bouncy crew from Louisiana who share some of Vampire Weekend's energy and Highlife inflections. In comparison with the Brooklyn boys, however, Givers seem rather keener on having fun than wowing the colour supplements. They are playing in Brighton on 6 November and I'm looking forward to making their acquaintance.

The autumn gig list is filling out nicely with Ahab, Cloud Control, Chatham County Line, June Tabor & The Oysterband and Steve Earle already in the diary - to warm up for Gillian Welch.

On the record front, I'm enjoying Laura Marling's A Creature I Don't Know, but want to give it a bit more time - there's something about her style which means I don't immediately hear and grasp the words... they seep in more gradually.

Tom Russell, on the other hand, is a very clear narrator but I've found first listens to his new one Mesabi rather disappointing - he's a bit too concerned with telling stories to let his songs grow more organically, and his sentimental side is more prominent than I like. But the excellent Calexico are on board again and Lucinda Williams guests -I'm going to give this one more time too.

Finally, a couple of Len-linked recommendations:

• for The Decemberists' I-Tunes Session which includes strong new versions of some of their own songs alongside a sweet version of Leonard Cohen's 'Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye' (apparently a favoured recent encore in concert - as you can see here);
• and Other Lives' version of Len's 'The Partisan' here - they clearly know a decent song when they hear one.