Blue Tomorrows – Owl Creek Blues
Personally, I blame Joni Mitchell and all the Laurel Canyon songwriters. I’m sure that Bob Dylan, The Band, Eric Clapton and all the rock stars who professed to the benefits of moving to the country in order to record music there need to share some of the blame.
Why? Well, it’s made a lot of romantic suckers like me believe that a trip out of the city and a good song could fix it all. Like George Harrison telling audiences that it just takes a mantra and a few deep breaths to make the world make sense, Joni promised some great things.
But, listening to Blue Tomorrows, it’s easy to remember that, perhaps, just perhaps, there was something important in those invites to breathe the fresh air and chant melodies at the sky while imploring for the world to be a better place.
In fact, “Owl Creek Blues” by Blue Tomorrows is a fascinating piece of music. On the one hand, the tone of the record with its invitation to return, even for a short while, to nature, is fantastic. But even more impressive is the artist’s ability to blend the natural with the artificial, to record a love song to nature while stuck in a garage, and make it sound so beautiful. It’s time to start packing once again.
oh, hooray – LIKE THE REAL THING
Some musical styles and, indeed, art forms, lend themselves to having a long and profitable career more than others. It’s not anyone’s fault, and not through anyone’s merit that this happens. Some of them are simply designed to be made and enjoyed at a leisurely pace.
The truly great folk singers perform their songs with the intensity of someone who’s about to be forced to jump from a train. Their voices choke as if they’re busy making their getaway from a debt collector, or have just seen their spouse in bed with someone else. They’re bursting at the seams with things to say, but you get the impression that they won’t be able to do it for long.
On the other hand, you hardly ever see a pop-rock star run out of energy to perform their greatest hits in front of crowds all over the world. Swedish crime novelists live to be 100 years old, at least. And even American politicians, these descendants of Cicero, get into office, while the people they grew up with are spending time in nursing homes.
This makes oh, hooray all the more impressive. I’ve reviewed the band before, and the intensity of the band’s ramshackle folk-rock made me believe that this would not be a thing we’d get too enjoy for long. I was wrong. The world’s still pushing the songwriter and singer to the point of mental exhaustion. But with enough resources to find the right words and melodies to fight against those dark powers, “LIKE THE REAL THING” ends up being a mighty special song.
