Friday night at The Voodoo Rooms was essentially a celebration and culmination of a great year for The Wynntown Marshalls. With their celebrated album, The Long Haul reissued on Blue Rose Records, a European tour and some very special support slots (Sons Of Bill, Chuck Prophet) behind them they’re now set on recording a follow up. Playing on their home turf was an opportunity for the band to say thanks to some dedicated fans and those fans responded by turning up mob handed. A score or more from Ireland (who know The Marshals from The Kilkenny Roots Festival) along with a German contingent joined local supporters with the result that the Voodoo Rooms were packed to the gunnels.
The Marshals barrelled their way through a fine set list that featured songs from The Long Haul and its predecessor Westerner with Low Country Comedown setting the bar high from the start followed by the balladry of All That I Want and Whatever It Takes. Crashing (Like The Reds) and Canada upped the tempo before some new songs were introduced which maintain the Marshals grasp of churning country rock with a heart and a hard edge boding well for the new album.
From here on in it was a rollercoaster ride through old favourites Driveaway, You Can Have My Heart, a crowd favourite it seems, and the magnificent swell of Tide which gets more epic every time I hear it live. Blindsided, a song from their 2008 debut was given a lengthy outing before Change Of Heart came across like a punchy Neil Young with his Stray Gators. Wonderful stuff indeed but the encore was outstanding as they threw down a thrilling and fun filled rendition of Ballad Of Jayne, the L.A. Guns song that the Marshals can probably now claim to own. Speeded up and with snatches of Walking On Sunshine, Tracy’s Mom and Sweet Jane thrown in as the band flailed away with Jason from support band The King Lot adding his voice it was a tremendous closer as the packed crowd went wild and joined in. All in all it was a great curtain closer to a great year for the band and the beginning of an exciting future.
Support for the evening was from the hard rock trio, The King Lot who put away their amps for the night to present an acoustic set that made up the lack of noise with some fine sensitive and humorous moments. So accomplished was this that it was a surprise to find out later that this isn’t their normal setup. Have a listen to their acoustic rendition of Until My Dying Day on Soundcloud for a taste of what they were like.
You have to admit there’s not too many bands named after heavy road vehicles. Buffalo Springfield were apparently inspired by a steam roller and it didn’t seem to hamper their progress. Here we have a crew from Seattle who maybe think that a tractor company (although they miss out an “e”) will draw folk in, at the very least it’s a memorable name and should avoid the harhums and ‘ums that often accompany a momentary lapse of memory when telling a pal about this great new band.
While great might be too over the top to describe Massy Ferguson (and they’re not particularly new) it’s fair to say that Victory & Ruins is as fine a slice of rip roaring rootsy Americana rock as I’ve heard in some time. With a classic four piece line up (Ethan Anderson, bass and lead vocals, Dave Goedde, drums, Adam Monda, guitar and backup vocals and Tony Mann on keyboards) they aren’t the most original band around but then neither were The Blasters. What matters is that Victory & Ruins is one of those albums that you can whip out and play when someone asks you to define American roots rock. With elements of The Drive By Truckers, Son Volt, The Jayhawks, Bottle Rockets and others all cramped in the driver’s cab they set out to harvest some prime roots music pausing briefly to pick up additional passengers including Jason Kardong whose pedal steel sweetens several of the songs and Zoe Muth who delivers a very fine vocal on The Hard Way.
The album opens with the jackhammer guitar and drums of Hello, a song that harks back to snappy power pop times with arm punching precision, a great chorus and a pile driving finish. Renegade however trumps this with its flowing country rock feel, the percussion lighter and the guitars rippling on a song that’s not too far removed from local heroes The Wynntown Marshals. 2 AM Beauty Queen continues in this vein with a harder edge and again the Marshals come to mind with Anderson’s voice capturing that slightly hoarse, slightly worn at the edges, dusty delivery. Here the band do deserve to be called great as the barrelling guitars and organ drive the song while there’s a tremendous dynamic with lulls in the musical maelstrom allowing Anderson to ponder on the rights and wrongs of falling for the titular beauty. Everything’s Done is a hard luck tale with a bold palette as the organ swirls throughout, the bass burbles and the guitars slowly burn while Goedde adds the most sympathetic cowbell heard in some time. Zoe Muth steps to the front to duet on The Hard Way, a very fine country piece that lopes along with gliding pedal steel guaranteed to melt the heart of cosmic cowboys everywhere. The band visit DBT territory with the rambunctious Flexed-Arm Hang but the following songs (Compromised Intelligence and Wait Love Maybe) lack the bite of their predecessors. The Beatles’ like opening chords of Labour In Vain however has the band back in full swagger with clarion guitar ringing away as they mix Tom Petty, The Byrds and The Truckers in equal doses. Apartment Downtown departs from the template with a cello adding a sonorous depth to this tender love song while they lower the curtain with the sweet and sour melancholic country rock sweep of Bring Back Something, a fine end to a very fine album.
Good news, Massy Ferguson are touring here next month, bad news, no Scottish dates. However on the strength of this they are well worth seeing.
It’s always nice when an old friend , someone you haven’t seen for a while, turns up and reminds you of why you’re friends in the first place. And so it is with Lothian’s Dropkick who have handed in Homeward after a two year absence. Proudly flagging a quote from The Scotsman that proclaims them Scotland’s third best band (sadly a search didn’t come up with the winner and runner up) the Taylor brother’s band are back to a five piece with Ian Grier still on keyboards and Scott Tobin( bass) and Mike Foy (drums) coming on board for what is their 12th album, perhaps giving them first place in Scotland’s most prolific band lists. While the band have released albums on Spanish and Swedish labels over the past few years they return here to their bespoke label, Taylored Records for what might amount to be their most accomplished effort to date, an album that is polished and proud outgrowing their various influences which have dotted previous album reviews.
Often compared with the likes of The Jayhawks, Wilco, Teenage Fanclub and The Pernice Brothers, Dropkick still drink from the same cup and to my mind have added some of the sonic adventures of The Boo Radleys’ Giant Steps to the mix while Andrew Taylor’s ventures into production (The Wynntown Marshals’ Long Haul) has paid dividends. The result is a multi layered collection of pure pop songs that range from pedal steel laced ballads to more baroque opuses with sumptuous keyboards and occasional studio effects.
Throughout the album the vocal harmonies are polished to a sheen but it’s the arrangements and embellishments that reel you in. Come Home opens the album with simple strummed guitars and an east coast lilt in the vocals but pretty soon a honeyed pedal steel creeps in taking one back to sun dappled Topanga Canyon Days. The discordant start and waspish synths of When It Starts however clouds this paradise before the dizzy and claustrophobic guitar buzz of Halfway Round Again, again augmented by fizzy synth along with a Strawberry Fields like coda, adds a hallucinogenic haze to the mix. Throughout the album the lyrics are somewhat opaque but for the most part seem to be about retaining relationships adding a melancholic air which is best captured on the aching organ drenched Jump Start which features a fine and gutsy guitar crunch while It’s My Life (Not Ours) burns with an ill disguised anger and slopes along with Neil Young guitar picking and some fine bass playing from Tobin while the keyboards add an air of gravitas. Rainbows is perhaps the pick here as a sole harmonica takes us into Dylan territory and Grier’s organ fills offer a glimpse of how The Band might have sounded had they hung about Edinburgh folk clubs. They close the album with a classic miniature on Carry Me Home. Acoustic guitar and piano open before a lonesome pedal steel (by guest Tim Davidson) offers an audio equivalent to the sun going down on this latest offering.
Homeward is released on 18th April and Dropkick are playing a short tour to celebrate the release. Good news for vinyl junkies is that the album will be available on 180 gram black vinyl in full colour sleeve, with lyric insert sheet, download code and a CD digipak version of ‘Homeward’ which you can order here.
Fri 11th April @ Twa Tams, Perth. 8.30pm. Free entry. With The Galipaygos.
Thu 17th April @ Clarks on Lyndsay St, Dundee. 8pm. Free entry. With The Galipaygos.
Fri 18th April @ Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh. Doors 7pm. £5 entry. With The Galipaygos.
Sat 19th April @ The Tea Posy, High St, Dingwall. 1.30pm. Acoustic set.
Sat 19th April @ Mad Hatters/Hootenany, Inverness. 9.30pm. With The Galipaygos.
Sons Of Bill from Charlottesville, Virginia made a bit of a splash back in 2012 with their third release, Sirens. Produced by Cracker’s David Lowery it showed the band growing into their skin as worthy successors to the likes of Son Volt and the Drive By Truckers. In the midst of recording the follow-up, this time produced by Ken Coomer (Uncle Tupelo, Wilco) they’re taking a break to swing through a lengthy European tour which includes several UK dates including two in Scotland where they will be supported by their new Blue Rose label mates, our very own Wynntown Marshals.
Obviously it’s useful to have some new product on hand when you’re sloshing through six countries (Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, England, and Scotland!, five if you’re a no voter!) so the Sons and Blue Rose have delivered a seven song E.P. to accompany the tour. Only available via the Blue Rose website or at their gigs The Gears EP offers a sneak preview of three songs from the forthcoming album (to be called Love & Logic) along with acoustic versions of two songs from Sirens and two live cuts.
Of the three new songs Brand New Paradigm finds the band swerving from the sound of Sirens with the vocal harmonies more polished and a mild nod to classic Mercury Rev. It’s a sumptuous confection of sound with chiming guitars and soaring vocals. Road To Canaan is primarily acoustic with finger picked guitar and a female singer duetting with James Wilson. Mallets softly propel the song with occasional percussive flurries adding dramatic effect while atmospheric guitar gimmickry evokes the wintry road from Nebraska, a beautiful song. Bad Dancer however rips it up in fine fashion as the guitars slash and burn and Wilson celebrates the cool kids who hang apart, who don’t dance but know what’s hip as they slouch in corners at parties.
The acoustic version (with steel guitar) of Santa Anna Winds (the opening song from Sirens) strips away the rock trappings and allows the song’s nihilism to ring clear and is much improved for that while Radio Can’t Rewind is another stripped down version of a song from Sirens which in this version is a heart-warming Dobro infused doldrum and again it unveils a greater heart than the previously issued version. As for the live cuts, Turn It Up was the centrepiece of Sirens and here it translates into a fine example of turbo charged country rock with guitars centre stage while the cover of Neil Young’s Unknown Legend adds a bit of fire in the engine room compared to Shakey’s version.
The EP is a great introduction to the band and it might be prudent if you wish to see them (and given the likelihood that Marshalls fans will pack the venues) to book tickets now. Sons of Bill and The Wynntown Marshals appear at Stereo, Glasgow on Sunday 9th March and then the Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh on Monday 10th March. The other dates are on their website . If you need any further evidence of the live power of Sons of Bill there’s a free download only live album available here.
I succumbed to the idea of a top ten for the first time last year and if nothing else it’s been useful looking back at it over the past few days and comparing it to the list below. Was it a good year for music? I don’t know. Has there ever been a bad year? All I can say is that I’ve enjoyed listening to music this year as much as the last one and the year before that and so on. Many of last year’s list still get regular plays here so at least I liked them and the number one, John Murry’s Graceless Age has had a second wind with its eventual release Stateside. It may seem odd to have an artist with two entries in the list but both albums by Michael Rank & Stag are simply superb examples of what Blabber’n’Smoke would define as Americana; rooted in the country with a frontier outlook and a fierce regard for the common folk. And a happy coincidence to have two works from Howe Gelb mentioned also as he continues to plow his singular field. Both albums have striking images of Gelb threatening to turn him into an Americana icon, part Mt. Rushmore, part Dorothea Lange, for Blabber’n’Smoke, he’s a hero. Anyway, here’s what rocked our boat over the past twelve months.
1. Doc Feldman & the LD50. Sundowning At The Station. This Is American Music
Soiled songs and dusty ballads sounding like a wounded Crazy Horse. A triumph for label of the year, This Is American Music.
And here’s the man himself
2. Michael Rank and Stag. Mermaids. Louds Hymn
Wracked and raw country folk and rock from North Carolina’s Michael Rank. In the space of two years he’s delivered three albums (one a double disc set) that in a fit of hyperbole we said it sounded as if Keef had left the Stones in ’69, joined The Band and recorded with Neil Young frying honeyslides in the kitchen. At the very least it comes close.
3. Israel Nash Gripka. Israel Nash’s Rain Plains. Loose Music
Guitars weave and wander with a ferocity and lyricism that defies description and he repeats this throughout the album and there’s a moment in the title song where the guitars fizz and burn just like the best firework you’ve ever seen.
4. Cam Penner. To Build A Fire. Independent
“Ukuleles, guitars, banjos were strummed. Floors were stomped. Kick drums were kicked. Feet stumbled. Thighs, knees, hands, slapped, clapped. Voices strained and bent. Fingers gripped, grabbed, picked. Arms and hands flung. Skin wrapped tight strained and stretched. Body and sound thrown against wood and metal.”
5. Michael Rank & Stag. In The Weeds. Louds Hymn
No apologies for the second appearance from this tall, stick thin North Carolina rock’n’roll ragamuffin. The sonic slurry he conjures up is nothing less than mesmerising.
6. Sam Baker. Say Grace. Independent
Baker’s wounded heart goes from strength to strength
7. Diana Jones. Museum of Appalachia Recordings. Proper Records.
She’s not well known but whenever we mention her there’s a flurry of activity from folk who recognise Jones’ ability to sound as old as the hills and bang up to date, the thinking man’s Gillian Welch?
8. Birds of Chicago. Birds of Chicago. Independent.
JT Nero makes an honest woman of Allison Russell as they formally pair up for a laid back celebration of harmony singing and some Tupelo honey.
9. Dead Flowers. Midnight at The Wheel Club Hee Haw Records
Dark and deep, vocally and lyrically, a trip through North America and the soul.
Local heroes, The Wynntown Marshals survived some turbulent years with band members coming and going. With new crew on board they came up trumps with a bigger, more layered sound and another fine songwriter in the shape of bassist Murdoch McLeod who penned the amazing Tide. Topping off a great year for them the band were snapped up by the very discerning blue Rose label.
Honorable mentions
Howe Gelb. The Coincidentalist
Howe Gelb. Dust Bowl
Mark Collie & his Reckless Companions. Alive At Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary.
J. R. Shore. State Theatre.
The Coals A Happy Animal
Benjamin Folke Thomas. Too Close to Here
Slaid Cleaves. Still Fighting The War
Thriftstore Masterpiece presents Lee Hazlewood’s Trouble Is A Lonely Town.
The Quiet American. Wild Bill Jones
Amanda Pearcy. Royal street
Heidi Talbot. Angels Without Wings
Jim Dead I’m Not Lost
Rachel Brooke. A Killer’s dream
Great Peacock E. P.
The Wynntown Marshals‘ second full length album The Long Haul, review here finally gets its official unveiling on the weekend of 12-13 July with back to back launch gigs in Glasgow and then Edinburgh. Coming almost three years after its predecessor Westerner it subtly shifts the band’s sound from, for want of a better term, country guitar centric, to a broader canvas with the guitars more embedded in the sound and keyboard embellishment adding scope and colour. The result is still recognisably The Marshals with Keith Benzie’s signature voice still well to the fore while their admiration for their particular rock influences such as Neil Young and The Jayhawks remains apparent in the writing and delivery.
Westerner was an accomplished debut and was released to almost universal acclaim with AmericanaUK, No Depression, Maverick magazine and Dutch mag Heaven all praising it. In addition the band recorded sessions for the legendary Bob Harris and Radio Scotland’s Another Country with Ricky Ross championing them. However this was the prelude to a rocky two years that saw major line up changes that might have felled a lesser crew. It’s a tribute to the determination of the band that they have not only recorded a follow up album but one that marks a progression as noted by Scotland On Sunday who said “the sound is fuller, more imaginative and richly vocally harmonised.”
Blabber’n’Smoke had the opportunity to meet up with singer/guitarist Keith Benzie and guitar wizard Iain Sloan to chew over the album and enjoy a few drinks in Glasgow’s Merchant City. What followed was a freewheelin’ rap through our respective record collections, favourite musicians and why Americana was so popular in Holland (The Marshals are big in the Benelux countries). We did manage however to discuss the past few years and the genesis of The Long Haul and we started off by asking them about the departures of drummer Keith Jones and guitarist Ian Barbour.
Keith: Keith (Jones) and I formed the Sundowns and Keith in those days was very much the driving force, a role he carried on with when we started The Marshals. But latterly he was less keen on the songs I was bringing in. Eventually he decided to leave but as it was just before we were to tour Holland to promote the release of Westerner he helped us out with that. With Iain Barbour it was a different thing. Iain’s a teacher and he knew there would be times when he couldn’t commit to gigs, tours and such so he very nobly said he didn’t want to get to a time when he would let us down so he bowed out and allowed us to move on.
We got Owen Nicholson in from Southpaw. There’s not many folk around who can play country guitar as well as Ian but Owen was able to step in for a time. But when it came time to record the album, Owen lives a good bit away from the rest of us, he’s got another band so he couldn’t get to many sessions where we were developing the songs so when it came time to record it was easier for Iain(Sloan) to record the guitar parts.
And Murdoch McLeod came in on bass shortly after Westerner?
Keith Murdoch was in a band called The Cateran (1980’s Scots hard core grunge band who toured with Nirvana). He was the guitar player then he formed his own band the Joyriders, he’s really a lead singer, guitarist and songwriter.
So both of you and Murdoch were really the heart of the band over the past two years.
Keith Iain and I knew each other before Iain joined the Marshals. He was in a band called Slow Jet and my previous band The Sundowns had played some shows with them but it was only after Iain joined the Marshals that we talked about our record collections and realised we had so many similarities, quite obscure bands that not that many people are into but we both absolutely loved, people like Jim Bryson and The Weakerthans. They did an album with Jim Bryson, Falcon Road Incident and it’s a really nice album. A band like the Weakerthans, they’ve never played Scotland, if they did it would probably be to a crowd of about 50 people.
The album sounds as if it’s more of a collaborative effort than Westerner was
Keith For me it was great to have other people contribute, I don’t feel precious about someone saying “I’ve got this song.” On Westerner Thunder In the Valley was a real collaborative effect while Curtain Call (on the new album) was written by the two us (Keith and Iain) round about the same time. On Westerner we took a lot of songs into the studio and said “this is what we’re doing” to the band. This time Murdoch was around so something like Tide and The Submariner came into the mix. There was less of an Americana or Nashville sound going on and that was where the lead guitar, the bends, the telecaster stuff had come in before. I don’t think we’ve made an album that’s sweepingly contemporary, it’s still a country rock album but fairly early on in the process we decided that the more country aspect was not what we envisaged.
Iain Certainly, in terms of songwriting input and song development, Murdoch, Keith and I worked in a very collaborative manner from the period when Keith Jones left. And we developed a load of the The Long Haul tunes as a three piece with drum loops until we brought Kenny (McCabe, drums) onboard and began the recording process properly. Keith and Murdoch were bringing fairly well developed material into the room but the song structures, arrangements, vocal harmonies and instrumentation was a real collaborative effort and allowed us to go in a different direction from Westerner. Some of the mid sections like the ones on Low Country Comedown or Change of Heart take the songs to places that they never would have on Westerner. And a lot of it was to do with Andrew Taylor, the producer. I mean a lot of it was recorded on a thing the size of a book, it’s not even cutting edge stuff, just a portastudio but he knows what he’s doing with it.
Murdoch’s song, Tide has the makings of an epic
Iain Murdoch wrote that song back around 2000 with just a wee drum machine, it was quite trippy and we worked it up, The plan was to take it and go for that Neil Young/Crazy Horse vibe!
And why the title, The Long Haul
Keith We had a discussion about what the album should be called and I picked this little snippet out of Change of Heart which was “Life’s a journey and this is the long haul.”
Iain And maybe some folk might think that a long haul is a negative thing, suggesting it’s a drag but for us a long haul is a sense of commitment, there’s some kind of reward at the end of it
Keith Well, take the song Canada, That songs not particularly about Canada. It’s about place and family, the themes I think that are central to the long haul. Relationships, journey, travel, finding but I always get told to trim my songs down. Usually I’ve got about 16 verses and I have to cut them down to 4 or 5
Iain Otherwise it would be the Overlong Haul!
Keith I liken it to me bringing along a block of wood to the rehearsal and the band, the carpenters, hew it into something beautiful………..
Iain Oh that’s pretentious as fuck, ha ha ha ha ha
So the Wynntown Marshals in the long haul are pretty much like The Carpenters
Iain Oh we love the Carpenters, there’s some really good pedal steel on some of their songs……………………………………..
Bolstered by the addition of Richie Noble on keyboards the revamped Marshals previewed some of the songs from The Long Haul when they supported Chuck Prophet at Oran Mor back in April. A tantalisingly short set then but you can catch them in their full glory when they oficially launch the album with shows at Glasgow’s Broadcast on Friday 12th July and then Edinburgh’s Voodoo Rooms the following night. In addition and prior to the Edinburgh show they play a free in store slot at the capital’s best record store, Coda Music at 2 pm.
If you can’t manage the shows or Coda is too stuffed to get to the counter you can buy the album here
It’s been a turbulent few years for The Wynntown Marshals with arrivals and departures (including guitarist Iain Barbour and drummer Keith Jones) that might have derailed lesser bands. However they’ve ploughed on with their other guitar wizard Iain Sloan picking up the baton dropped by Jones as the band’s indefatigable publicist and also employing an impressive array of strings to broaden their sound while bassist Murdoch McLeod has blossomed into a fine writer as evidenced by the two songs he’s penned here. With front man Keith Benzie remaining at the helm the Marshals are still recognisably The Marshals but there is a subtle shift in their sound as they seem more assured and confident, adding layers of sound in the production and leaving behind their more “twangish” Nashville flourishes. The end result is a triumphant return with The Marshals consolidated as a magnificent four piece after the long haul of the past few years.
They kick the album off with a bang with the frantic road trip of Driveaway’s muscular beat which pulverises along with a cracking guitar solo from Sloan soaring above the driving organ. A Kerouac inspired tale of cross country driving it captures the adventure and spirit of open highways as it sparks and fizzes and is a fine way for the band to announce their return to the fray. Canada is a Byrds’ like jangle fest with Benzie bemoaning a pair separated by oceans as he sings “I would get there if I could/but I admit I find it hard/I feel stuck in this corner/Like a stamp on a postcard.” Despite the yearning in the lyrics the song has a joyous and uplifting feel with some superb backing vocals from the band members. The epic Crashing (Like The Reds) showcases the band’s fuller sound which reflects the sophisticated country pop of Wilco’s Summerteeth album and, going further back, the polished power of L.A.’s wrecking crew. While it’s a rocker of the first degree the deftness of the changes along with the chiming guitars and crashing chords elevate it to sonic heaven. Murdoch’s North Atlantic Soul is another song that wraps itself in a multilayered tapestry of sound with waves of acoustic guitar buried under a sweeping pedal steel and another superb solo from Sloan. There’s plenty of variety to be had here. Curtain Call is a gentle, reflective and chilling tale of addiction, failure and suicide which features cello and violin. The opening lyrics “Here I sit in this dingy room/Alone with needle, tourniquet and spoon” could be from any number of rock’n’roll drug damage songs but Benzie pulls off a fine smoke and mirrors trick as the words reveal the song to be set in the bygone age of Victorian stage magicians conjuring up images from The Prestige.
There is in addition a fine wallop of that chunky Americana sound that the Marshals do so well. Low Country Comedown ebbs and flows like the Mississippi with the guitars churning away while Change of Heart chugs along in fine Stray Gators style with a chunky rhythm and sweet pedal steel while some Beatles’ styled psychedelic guitar corkscrews in the background. Benzie is accompanied on vocals here by Diane Christiansen (from Dolly Varden) and they truly sound like a heartbreaking couple.
The icing on the cake here is the awesome and sublime Tide. A mesmerising smorgasbord of wave washed guitars and swirling keyboards with parched vocals it swells like a tidal bore before hitting the shore and falling apart in trickles of sonic beeps and squiggles. Lyrically it’s faintly reminiscent of Crosby Stills and Nash’s Wooden Ships and indeed the vocals and the intricate guitars would not have been out of place on Deja Vu ( and would have made it a finer album!).
All in all The Long Haul is a worthy successor to Westerner as the Marshals expand their sound, widen their horizons and above all deliver a solid set with not a clunker in sight. The album will be available in July via their website and there’s a launch gig on July 12th at Broadcast in Glasgow. If you can’t wait that long they support Chuck Prophet at Oran Mor on May 1st and they promise to have some copies on sale.
Can white men sing the blues? Can Scotsmen play Americana? Well you can argue the first question till the end of time but if anyone asks you the latter just thrust this disc into their hand, end of argument. This is the Marshals’ debut album following an excellent EP and single released over the past 18 months. If either of those whetted your appetite then here is the main course.
“You can have My Heart” welcomes you in to Wyntown territory. Chunky guitar and hoarse vocals are backed by what sounds like the Glimmer twins “whoo whooin’” in the background. A thumping great piece of guitar then whips up a storm before singer Keith Benzie comes back in with the title refrain. This is followed by their celebrated cover of the LA Guns song “Ballad of Jayne.” Originally recorded for a tribute album to “hair bands” and then released as a single, it fits right in here. Done as a ballad laced with sweet pedal steel and stinging lead guitar it is excellent. The interplay between guitarist Iain Barbour and pedal steel player Iain Sloan is exquisite and exhilarating. “Snowflake” is a country-tinged romp with a dark story in the lyrics. “48 Hours” almost literally revs up the twang guitar with organ and a clipped guitar solo on a song about a picaresque greyhound bus ride.
On their first release The Marshals unveiled a song called 11:15, an epic retelling of a historical flood. On a brace of songs here they again stretch out with impressive results. “Thunder in the Valley” slouches along, slow, deliberate, at times majestic with stately piano. “Gil” is another historical tale, the story of Gil Elvgren, an American illustrator which captures the age of innocence when classic pin up girls (such as those enjoyed by WW2 service men) were not seen as sleazy. The song seems to contrast his artistic worth with the eventual debasement of advertisers using his talent to sell tyres and beer. All this in a very attractive country waltz setting that like other songs here has a bittersweet sense of joy and sadness. “All That I Want” is a plaintive love song with some tasty tortured guitar work at the end of another 6 minute song. .
The band romp towards the finishing line with “Nelly My Love,” a sunny love song with jaunty guitar duelling. It segues into “Divine Compassion,” an apocalyptic anti war song with heavy martial drumming from Keith Jones and moody guitar, told from the perspective of a traumatised veteran.
“Two is Company” ends the album on a brighter (although bittersweet) note with cracking (almost power pop) guitar solos and a driving rhythm.
Overall this is a stunning album with guitarists Barbour and Sloan shining throughout while Benzie’s vocals are impassioned and heartfelt. Drawing from the likes of The Drive By Truckers, Wilco and Neil Young, The Marshals manage to forge a sound of their own. I’d recommend that you buy this album and go see them at the earliest opportunity.
