Lee Feather and The Night Movers AND David Omlor Reviewed
Lee Feather and The Night Movers – Calvary
Is there a moment when a poet isn’t living life poetically? Should poets, really, get any days off? No, they’re stuck with their gifts as a curse for the entirety of their days on Earth. Sorry, I don’t make the rules. They should’ve picked being cooks or lawyers instead.
And, because of the pressure, terrible working conditions and draining schedule, there aren’t many poets left in rock n’ roll. Cohen and Van Zandt are long gone. And we can’t always rely on Dylan’s revelations when we get in trouble.
Lee Feather and The Night Movers, on the other hand, seemed driven to make music, fundamentally, by a sense of unease, by the feeling that they’re on the wrong track and have no way to get off the train.
Now, that’s poetic! And so is the vocal delivery across “Calvary,” a kind of search for spiritual redemption through pain and suffering on streets filled with blinding lights. The lyrics are the focus here, but the music attempts to hypnotise you just the same.
David Omlor – The American Boys (The Ballad of Frank Gusenberg and the St Valentine’s Day Massacre)
I never studied North American history. Sure feels like I did, though. And there’s a simple reason for that. While they were making us read stuffy books about tribes coming to Europe, developing into kingdoms, then empires, and dividing the continent between them through bloody wars, the Americans were making films and writing songs about their shorter history.
And, because those movies and tunes, in the great American capitalist spirit, needed to sell in order to justify their production, they only focused on the good bits. I, just like most other kids, could tell you more about the great Chicago gangsters than I could about whoever was president of our nation. The story was much too good and, thankfully, David Omlor is keeping the story alive.
That’s not to say that “The American Boys (The Ballad of Frank Gusenberg and the St Valentine’s Day Massacre)” isn’t a surreal, bloody affair, and describes an era where crime organisations reigned supreme. Still, isn’t that what all of history is? Omlor’s music, really, equates to adding music to a great short story. Omlor’s greatest gift is the ability to tell a tale. It’s a tradition best kept alive.
