Teddy McGraw – We’ll Put You Back Together Again
There will always be more rock musicians writing and singing about cars and girls than those trying to ask serious life questions. But if there’s any silver lining, it’s that the former never really last for long and few miss them when they’re gone.
Why? Can’t we all just enjoy a good time? Probably not! In fact, if we could choose responsibility for a change, we’d demand the rock songwriters to deliver to us tortured verses that cut us up inside and reassemble us.
Teddy McGraw is going after one of those eternal questions like an ageing billionaire digging through their basement for a sledge that has the word “rosebud” written on it.
The music’s designed to relax you, though as the question gets asked. “We’ll Put You Back Together Again” sounds like The Cure going pop and placing a resonant acoustic guitar in the centre of the mix. But make no mistake about it. This is a song about connections that define one’s life even long after they’ve faded so much that they can no longer be seen clearly. This is music that would be missed if it disappeared suddenly.
SJ5 – Better to Leave
Better tend to learn music for all the wrong reasons. There are those who learn it so that they can be employed and play in Romanian wedding bands and yacht cover groups. There are others who learn to play an instrument with the view of impressing a potential mate and, inevitably, end up being obsessed with impressing other musicians.
And then there are those who are convinced that they’ll use their knowledge of chords, melodies and alternate guitar tunings to uncover the future. For those, you have to feel the most amount of pity. It’s not just that they very rarely locate what it is that they’re seeking. It’s the fact that, as SJ5 proves, we aren’t done with the past just yet.
“Better to Leave” is a love hymn to the 1960s. Wasn’t that a great time? Few of us actually know from personal experience, but judging by this song, it sounds like McCartney signing a peace truce through a pop jam with Brian Wilson; it’s the era we should not let go of. The arrangement here and the melodies are an absolute delight!
