JACKIE LEVEN – Gothic Road
May 27th, 2010 | Published in Reviews
‘Gothic Road’ is the latest album from politically-aware Scottish folkster Jackie Leven. Those familiar with Jackie from previous albums will be expecting his tone-rich resonant voice, impressive finger percussion stylings, and precision guitar picking: but what else does ‘Gothic Road’ have to offer?
Firstly, it offers a really intriguing second lead vocal from Ralph McTell (yep, he of ‘Streets of London’, and ‘We’re Going To The Zoo’ fame), which blends seamlessly with Jackie’s tuneful burr. Secondly, it offers a real mix of the past, the present, and the unreal: the past coming from the very classical folk sound; the present sneaking up on you in the lyrics which reference mobile phones and pop songs by Joy Division, Dolly Parton and Mudd among others; and the unreal from the inclusion of Russian vocalists Ghost Voices of The Kursk, whose eerie harmonies give several tracks a real ethereal equality. Thirdly, it is definitely a well put together, many-layered folk album: with some reservations from this reviewer.
Individually, most of the tracks are distinct and unique – sometimes difficult to achieve in such a stylised genre as folk, but Jackie manages it on the whole. Title track Gothic Road is spooky and evocative, darkly voiced and hauntingly stringed. Last of The Badmen features the incredible finger drumming mentioned earlier and an odd shaking vocal; John Paul Getty’s Silver Cadillac is mellow and sweet. Cornelius Whalen has something of the protest song in the stirring backing vocals, and there are shades of Nick Cave’s murder ballads in New Wreath. Absolutely Joan Crawford (With A Bit of Tilda Swinton On The Side) is a very cheerful sideways look at Jackie’s favourite ladies with a country feel.
All this being said, there are a few things here that don’t quite land for me – the repetitive Hotel Mini Bar is maddening, and not content with being so while it plays it then burrows into your brain and keeps repeating. A couple of the songs are too mournful and become a bit boring (particularly at an average length of about 4 minutes each)- notably My Lost Blonde and the spectacularly titled Song For Bass Guitar and Death. I wanted to love a song called that, but sadly not.
In summary then, this was an interesting listen, and a very obvious amount of skill and craft have gone into the making. If you’re a fan of folk at all, it may just be that you will love this album: all the elements are there, and it may be lack of skill on the part of this listener that I didn’t