Wreckless Eric — Transience (May 17th, 2019)
• Od pozdních sedmdesátých lét, Wreckless Eric (Eric Goulden) byl šampiónem přímého, melodicky~popového rocku. V uplynulých letech realizoval 3 alba ve spolupráci se svou ženou Amy Rigby a v r. 2015 sólové album „amERICa“, po kterém výrazný britský hudebník počítal s přemístěním do Spojených států. Jeho nové album „Construction Time & Demolition“ věnuje pozornost nestálosti plynoucí z jeho názvu, přičemž 63~letý Goulden věnuje větší pozornost času a paměti, která se mezitím stala „zarostlým dvorem“.
• Eric začal svůj albový život v 1. června 1978 na značce Stiff Records s jeho trvalým hitem „Whole Wide World“, když mu bylo o něco více než studentovi umění. Tu konkrétní píseň však nahrál již předtím — v květnu 1974, a nahrál ji v roce 1977. Dalšími hudebníky na nahrávce byli Nick Lowe na kytaru a basu a Steve Goulding na bicí. Další album „The Wonderful World of Wreckless Eric“ bylo vydáno 13. října 1978 jako černý vinyl LP (SEEZ 9), zelený vinyl LP (SEEZ 9) a obrazový disk LP (SEEZP 9). Později nahrál dalších 6 alb, prodělal nevyléčitelná 4 desetiletí různých turné a v této nemoci je stále schopen chrlit nějaký zajímavý a nečekaný materiál. Z níže uvedené tabulky je patrné, že „Transience“ je jeho osmé album. Eric má výrazný hlas. Od prvních poznámek v otvíráku alba „Father To The Man“ je to okamžitě rozpoznatelné. Celé to vypadá jako nádherný mix The Verve a Velvet Underground, zcela určitě vedle sebe rozvinul podivné hudební plátno některým docela srdcervoucím textům a motivům. A navzdory tomu, že album má po celou dobu soudržný hudební zvuk, nezískávám podezření o opakování se stop po stopě: je tu spousta jemných textur a harmonií, které budete chtít slyšet opakovaně, znovu a znovu až k zešílení. Koncovka „California/Handyman“ už jen ujišťuje, že máme na talíři celkem kvalitní album.
• On Transience, Eric is joined by friends including acoustic 12~string guitar player Alexander Turnquist, Cheap Trick bassist,Tom Petersson, Amy Rigby on piano and backing vocals, jazz horn player Artie Barbato, and on drums Steve Goulding, late of Graham Parker & the Rumour — the first time he and Eric have recorded together since Eric’s enduring hit “Whole Wide World”…
• … He wrote the songs on the move, alone in grubby rooms, in dilapidated motels, and ‘poolside’ at rundown, out~of~season resort hotels, during gaps between tour dates. And in roadside cafes, parking lots and launderettes. “I was seeing stuff and writing it down, little vignettes. I felt like I was in a succession of Raymond Carver short stories.”
Birth name: Eric Goulden
Born: 18 May 1954, Newhaven, East Sussex, England
Location: UK
Genres: Rock, new wave, punk rock
Album release: May 17th, 2019
Record Label: Southern Domestic
Duration: 35:21
Tracks:
1. Father to the Man 2:55
2. Strange Locomotion 4:40
3. The Half of It 7:03
4. Dead End 2:19
5. Creepy People (In the Middle of the Night) [Explicit] 4:47
6. Tiny House 2:02
7. Indelible Stain 4:10
8. California/Handyman 7:25
Review
by Howard Scott; Rating: 9
• Way back in the ancient days of 1972, noted philosopher and poet Ricky Nelson wrote “If memories are all I sang, I’d rather drive a truck.”
• It seems that Eric Goulden, known for decades as Wreckless Eric, has made that fateful phrase his words to live by. At an age where most of his contemporaries are doing reunion and farewell tours with nothing new having been offered up for years, Eric is still making timely and quality music. Last year’s Construction Time and Demolition was a well~constructed composition, and never one to sit on his laurels, Eric is back with Transience an eight tune collection of songs that deal with age, experience and the realization that we are all only here for a short time. Goulden will be 65 years old the day after his latest work is released, but aside from his Cockney twinged voice being a bit rougher than it was in his youth, he is still producing top~shelf material fit for both recording and stage.
• This is hard~edged, low~fi rock and roll with some distant echoes of the music made by bands like the Byrds before they went country. Lots of guitars, both 6 and 12 string are front and center and solid bass and drumming are mixed with melodic keyboards to create sounds that many much younger performers will most likely never equal.
• Goulden has lined up a most professional group to work with, including drummer Steve Goulding, whom he hasn’t worked with since the “Whole Wide World” days. Longtime partner Amy Rigby brings her vocal and piano talents, Alexander Turnquist plays an exquisite acoustic 12 string, Tom Petersson, the usual bass player for Cheap Trick, handles the four string and Arnie Barbato adds various brass instruments
• Not many artists call out their contemporaries in a song, but Goulden does just that in “The Half of It”.
• “Ray was singing to me,” he sings, referencing Ray Davies,” how I might see the stars as I stroll down Hollywood Boulevard.”
• “And Neil kept telling me, tonight’s the night over at S.I.R.” he wails, speaking of Mr. Young. It’s hard to tell if either of those pieces of advice found their mark, but they were apparently noteworthy enough to warrant a mention.
• Goulden works hard on the song, playing acoustic guitar, a Wurlitzer electric piano, a drone synth, a Ukranian noise box (whatever that is) and a Moog Opus synth. Ross Goldstein on a Vox Continental organ and Barbato on euphonium give the cut a full and thick sound which blends with Goulden’s vocal to produce a work of melodic and intelligent ingredients. An interesting detail of the tune is that there is a long and exquisite instrumental in the middle, giving the work what Goulden calls “three halves”.
• Years ago, Goulden told an interviewer that he wanted to be remembered as having left “an indelible stain” on his chosen profession. Here, he makes sure that will occur, with “Indelible Stain”. This is basic lo~fi at it’s best with drums, guitars and a bass combined with a Hammond keyboard. A long and tasty instrumental starts the groove and lasts for over half of the total 4:10 length. The vocal is buried a bit in the mix to highlight the music, and no one is the poorer for it. It is a great taste of a throwback to pre~synth rock that was played with much more rudimentary equipment.
• “Father to the Man” dives into the look back at life that is often a subject of the album’s writing. Goulden sings about his father and how the two lived very different lives.
• “While he was steady I was a flake, I lived my life from scrape to scrape.” he sings with a touch of regret in his voice. “Now I’m older I’m a lot like him, history coming back again.” On a personal note, as someone almost the same age as Eric, who also lost parents in the last year, the song is more poignant than it probably would be to a younger listener, but I can relate. That isn’t something I experience with most modern day lyrics.
• “Strange Locomotion” starts out with a roughly hewn count~in, but quickly turns into a good old fashioned rocker, while “Tiny House” gives us two minutes of punky rhythm and a lyric singing the praises of instant mobility.
• In another example of lyrics you don’t hear every day, “Creepy People (In the Middle of the Night) begins “I thought that they were Mormons but they might have been the KGB. They could have been Christians, they were giving the lions a run for their money.” Infused over a sing~song melody that turns into a “lets stop and take a break.” middle, the tune is pure fun from a guy old enough to know how to create it. The second half sounds as much like a studio party as it does a professional recording, but it just fits in here perfectly.
• The lyrics are much more mainstream and limited on closer “California/Handyman”. Here we get just short of seven and a half minutes of fine musicianship from the entire band. Barbato is credited with “obliterated horns somewhere on the end” and Jem Cohen apparently phoned in some backing vocals, but the result is the most complete and satisfying recording on the disc. Many seven minute songs can seem endless. This one feels too short. • https://href.li/?https://soundblab.com/
Bandcamp: https://wrecklesseric.bandcamp.com/album/transience
Website: http://wrecklesseric.com/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/wrecklesseric/
The official Eric Goulden / Wreckless Eric diary: • http://thedysfunctionalworldof.blogspot.com/
Albums:
As Wreckless Eric:
• Wreckless Eric (March 1978: Stiff Records, SEEZ 6) #46 UK Albums Chart
• The Wonderful World of Wreckless Eric (October 1978: Stiff, SEEZ 9)
• Big Smash! (February 1980: Stiff, SEEZ 21) [double, inc. compilation album] #30 UK
• The Donovan of Trash (1991)
• Bungalow Hi (2004)
• AmERICa (2015)
• Construction Time & Demolition (2018)
• Transience (May 17th, 2019)
______________________________________________
• Od pozdních sedmdesátých lét, Wreckless Eric (Eric Goulden) byl šampiónem přímého, melodicky~popového rocku. V uplynulých letech realizoval 3 alba ve spolupráci se svou ženou Amy Rigby a v r. 2015 sólové album „amERICa“, po kterém výrazný britský hudebník počítal s přemístěním do Spojených států. Jeho nové album „Construction Time & Demolition“ věnuje pozornost nestálosti plynoucí z jeho názvu, přičemž 63~letý Goulden věnuje větší pozornost času a paměti, která se mezitím stala „zarostlým dvorem“.
• Eric začal svůj albový život v 1. června 1978 na značce Stiff Records s jeho trvalým hitem „Whole Wide World“, když mu bylo o něco více než studentovi umění. Tu konkrétní píseň však nahrál již předtím — v květnu 1974, a nahrál ji v roce 1977. Dalšími hudebníky na nahrávce byli Nick Lowe na kytaru a basu a Steve Goulding na bicí. Další album „The Wonderful World of Wreckless Eric“ bylo vydáno 13. října 1978 jako černý vinyl LP (SEEZ 9), zelený vinyl LP (SEEZ 9) a obrazový disk LP (SEEZP 9). Později nahrál dalších 6 alb, prodělal nevyléčitelná 4 desetiletí různých turné a v této nemoci je stále schopen chrlit nějaký zajímavý a nečekaný materiál. Z níže uvedené tabulky je patrné, že „Transience“ je jeho osmé album. Eric má výrazný hlas. Od prvních poznámek v otvíráku alba „Father To The Man“ je to okamžitě rozpoznatelné. Celé to vypadá jako nádherný mix The Verve a Velvet Underground, zcela určitě vedle sebe rozvinul podivné hudební plátno některým docela srdcervoucím textům a motivům. A navzdory tomu, že album má po celou dobu soudržný hudební zvuk, nezískávám podezření o opakování se stop po stopě: je tu spousta jemných textur a harmonií, které budete chtít slyšet opakovaně, znovu a znovu až k zešílení. Koncovka „California/Handyman“ už jen ujišťuje, že máme na talíři celkem kvalitní album.
• On Transience, Eric is joined by friends including acoustic 12~string guitar player Alexander Turnquist, Cheap Trick bassist,Tom Petersson, Amy Rigby on piano and backing vocals, jazz horn player Artie Barbato, and on drums Steve Goulding, late of Graham Parker & the Rumour — the first time he and Eric have recorded together since Eric’s enduring hit “Whole Wide World”…
• … He wrote the songs on the move, alone in grubby rooms, in dilapidated motels, and ‘poolside’ at rundown, out~of~season resort hotels, during gaps between tour dates. And in roadside cafes, parking lots and launderettes. “I was seeing stuff and writing it down, little vignettes. I felt like I was in a succession of Raymond Carver short stories.”
Birth name: Eric Goulden
Born: 18 May 1954, Newhaven, East Sussex, England
Location: UK
Genres: Rock, new wave, punk rock
Album release: May 17th, 2019
Record Label: Southern Domestic
Duration: 35:21
Tracks:
1. Father to the Man 2:55
2. Strange Locomotion 4:40
3. The Half of It 7:03
4. Dead End 2:19
5. Creepy People (In the Middle of the Night) [Explicit] 4:47
6. Tiny House 2:02
7. Indelible Stain 4:10
8. California/Handyman 7:25
Review
by Howard Scott; Rating: 9
• Way back in the ancient days of 1972, noted philosopher and poet Ricky Nelson wrote “If memories are all I sang, I’d rather drive a truck.”
• It seems that Eric Goulden, known for decades as Wreckless Eric, has made that fateful phrase his words to live by. At an age where most of his contemporaries are doing reunion and farewell tours with nothing new having been offered up for years, Eric is still making timely and quality music. Last year’s Construction Time and Demolition was a well~constructed composition, and never one to sit on his laurels, Eric is back with Transience an eight tune collection of songs that deal with age, experience and the realization that we are all only here for a short time. Goulden will be 65 years old the day after his latest work is released, but aside from his Cockney twinged voice being a bit rougher than it was in his youth, he is still producing top~shelf material fit for both recording and stage.
• This is hard~edged, low~fi rock and roll with some distant echoes of the music made by bands like the Byrds before they went country. Lots of guitars, both 6 and 12 string are front and center and solid bass and drumming are mixed with melodic keyboards to create sounds that many much younger performers will most likely never equal.
• Goulden has lined up a most professional group to work with, including drummer Steve Goulding, whom he hasn’t worked with since the “Whole Wide World” days. Longtime partner Amy Rigby brings her vocal and piano talents, Alexander Turnquist plays an exquisite acoustic 12 string, Tom Petersson, the usual bass player for Cheap Trick, handles the four string and Arnie Barbato adds various brass instruments
• Not many artists call out their contemporaries in a song, but Goulden does just that in “The Half of It”.
• “Ray was singing to me,” he sings, referencing Ray Davies,” how I might see the stars as I stroll down Hollywood Boulevard.”
• “And Neil kept telling me, tonight’s the night over at S.I.R.” he wails, speaking of Mr. Young. It’s hard to tell if either of those pieces of advice found their mark, but they were apparently noteworthy enough to warrant a mention.
• Goulden works hard on the song, playing acoustic guitar, a Wurlitzer electric piano, a drone synth, a Ukranian noise box (whatever that is) and a Moog Opus synth. Ross Goldstein on a Vox Continental organ and Barbato on euphonium give the cut a full and thick sound which blends with Goulden’s vocal to produce a work of melodic and intelligent ingredients. An interesting detail of the tune is that there is a long and exquisite instrumental in the middle, giving the work what Goulden calls “three halves”.
• Years ago, Goulden told an interviewer that he wanted to be remembered as having left “an indelible stain” on his chosen profession. Here, he makes sure that will occur, with “Indelible Stain”. This is basic lo~fi at it’s best with drums, guitars and a bass combined with a Hammond keyboard. A long and tasty instrumental starts the groove and lasts for over half of the total 4:10 length. The vocal is buried a bit in the mix to highlight the music, and no one is the poorer for it. It is a great taste of a throwback to pre~synth rock that was played with much more rudimentary equipment.
• “Father to the Man” dives into the look back at life that is often a subject of the album’s writing. Goulden sings about his father and how the two lived very different lives.
• “While he was steady I was a flake, I lived my life from scrape to scrape.” he sings with a touch of regret in his voice. “Now I’m older I’m a lot like him, history coming back again.” On a personal note, as someone almost the same age as Eric, who also lost parents in the last year, the song is more poignant than it probably would be to a younger listener, but I can relate. That isn’t something I experience with most modern day lyrics.
• “Strange Locomotion” starts out with a roughly hewn count~in, but quickly turns into a good old fashioned rocker, while “Tiny House” gives us two minutes of punky rhythm and a lyric singing the praises of instant mobility.
• In another example of lyrics you don’t hear every day, “Creepy People (In the Middle of the Night) begins “I thought that they were Mormons but they might have been the KGB. They could have been Christians, they were giving the lions a run for their money.” Infused over a sing~song melody that turns into a “lets stop and take a break.” middle, the tune is pure fun from a guy old enough to know how to create it. The second half sounds as much like a studio party as it does a professional recording, but it just fits in here perfectly.
• The lyrics are much more mainstream and limited on closer “California/Handyman”. Here we get just short of seven and a half minutes of fine musicianship from the entire band. Barbato is credited with “obliterated horns somewhere on the end” and Jem Cohen apparently phoned in some backing vocals, but the result is the most complete and satisfying recording on the disc. Many seven minute songs can seem endless. This one feels too short. • https://href.li/?https://soundblab.com/
Bandcamp: https://wrecklesseric.bandcamp.com/album/transience
Website: http://wrecklesseric.com/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/wrecklesseric/
The official Eric Goulden / Wreckless Eric diary: • http://thedysfunctionalworldof.blogspot.com/
Albums:
As Wreckless Eric:
• Wreckless Eric (March 1978: Stiff Records, SEEZ 6) #46 UK Albums Chart
• The Wonderful World of Wreckless Eric (October 1978: Stiff, SEEZ 9)
• Big Smash! (February 1980: Stiff, SEEZ 21) [double, inc. compilation album] #30 UK
• The Donovan of Trash (1991)
• Bungalow Hi (2004)
• AmERICa (2015)
• Construction Time & Demolition (2018)
• Transience (May 17th, 2019)
______________________________________________