What is up with all the longwinded
album titles lately? Here’s another one…
Disc 906 is….Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now
Artist: Justin
Townes Earle
Year of Release: 2012
What’s up with the Cover? Justin is the perfect dejected
hipster, looking at the ground and thinking about how to make his outfit more
boring in future. It won’t be easy…
Behind
him a tough-looking woman wearing Lenny Kravitz’s sunglasses has finished her spray-paint
job of the album title. “Come back when
you don’t have to roll those pants up to make ‘em fit” her eyes seem to be
saying, as she exits stage right.
How I Came To Know It: I got into Justin Townes Earle a
year or so ago, and I’ve been buying up most (but not all) of his albums. This
is my most recent purchase.
How It Stacks Up: I have four of Justin Townes Earle’s seven
albums. Of the four that I have, “Nothing’s Gonna Change…” is about equal with “Midnight
at the Movies” (reviewed back at Disc 802) but for argument’s sake I’ll
put it just ahead of it, at number three overall.
Ratings: 3 stars
As you
might guess from the album cover, Justin Townes Earle is a world-class moper. “Nothing’s
Gonna Change…” is at its best when he’s in full wallow.
The
record starts out strong, with “Am I That
Lonely Tonight?” The song is partly about one of Justin’s favourite topics;
his famous dad (and regular subject of reviews on this blog) roots/folk artist Steve
Earle. Something about his love/hate relationship with his father brings out
the best in Earle the Younger. It should get tiresome over time, but it always
seems to work. The honest conflict within the boy who once inspired his dad to
write “Little Rock n’ Roller” is
clear as he warbles:
“Hear my father on the radio
singing take me home again
300 miles from the Carolina coast
and I'm
I'm skin and bones again
Sometimes I wish that I could get
away
Sometimes I wish that he'd just
call
Am I that lonely tonight, I don't
know.”
The next
track is more up tempo, but just as rough lyrically. If Earle lays the guilt
trip hard on his dad, it is clear he takes his fair share back when thinking
about his mom:
“Mama I’m hurtin’ in the worst
way
I got now money in my pocket, no
place to stay
When I see you out in the streets
You never know what to say
But it doesn’t matter, momma
If you always look the other way.”
After
these two strong tracks the album loses focus a bit with some good tracks, but
nothing that grabbed my attention. The tunes on “Nothing’s Gonna Change…” have elements
of soul that cuts both ways. When it works, it adds edge and bluesy hurt to
songs that might otherwise seem trite. When it doesn’t work, it drowns Earle’s
powerful lyrics in too much production and too many horn flourishes.
A good example
of this is “Down on the Lower East Side”
which has what could be a cool cross-section of organ, steel guitar and trumpet.
Instead it adds additional instruments at every turn and with too many choices your
ear ends up unanchored. There is a thoughtfulness expressed in the layers,
though, and I suspect those readers who enjoy lots of production layers will
like the experience more than I did.
After a
bit of wandering, the album regains its focus near the end, starting with “Unfortunately, Anna” which manages to simultaneously
capture wanderlust and stagnation. The song makes you feel that while the down-and-out
dream more than anyone of getting away, they are also the ones who tend to get
nowhere the fastest.
The
album ends with “Movin’ On”, another
introspective number but this one with a galloping bass beat. Earle wraps his
earlier themes of maternal shame and paternal frustration into a single road
trip song that becomes an introspective journey into trouble:
“Well I talked to my mom today,
she seems like she's doing fine
Tell her I've been getting sick
again, we both pretend we don't know why
She says 'one more drop of
rain'...she swears we'll all be drowned alive
And she asked me how my father's
been, we both pretend we don't know why”
If “Unfortunately, Anna” is a song about
dreaming of getting away and going nowhere, “Movin’ On” is the opposite –a reminder that no matter how jaunty the
tune or how long the road, you can't outrun your problems.
Earle
seems to understand this, and “Nothing’s Gonna Change…” benefits from his
willingness to expose raw nerves – both his and others – and his talent for casting
old musical notions in a fresh light. This record falters and it loses momentum
in places, but you’ve got to admire Earle for swinging for the fences when it
happens.
Best
tracks: Am I That Lonely Tonight?, Look the Other Way,
Unfortunately Anna, Movin’ On
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