‘Elephant Blues’ is the latest CD from Liverpool’s CHRIS ELLIOT. As the title suggests, this is a blues album, however, there is more here than one would strictly find within the blues genre. Chris’ guitar playing and storytelling is really good, and when combined with as much dexterity ensures this CD is frequently magnificent.
This is Chris’ second album following on from ‘Fierce Truth and Fortune’ which emerged some six years ago, and it’s been worth the wait. There are twelve tracks, plus a ‘hidden’ track tacked on to the end of ‘Say the Word’. Opening with the splendidly titled ‘The City of Original Sin’ on which you can hear Chris count himself in to the start, this is an atmospheric folk blues with a great echo on the guitar which made it sound a little bit like some of Peter Buck’s work on REM'S ‘Automatic for the People’, only better, the stark arrangement lending a portentous tone to the lyrics: -“Going back to the City of Original Sin/ Down empty streets and forgotten roads, the past has come to take its hold.” While this may sound somewhat depressing, the listener is drawn to Chris’ mesmerising delivery. It is a haunting start to an album that just keeps on getting better.
‘Long is the Night, Dark is the Day’ has a far more upbeat melody, at first I thought there was a slight rockabilly slant on this one, but on further listening, the rhythm is similar to Howlin’ Wolf’s ‘You’ll Be Mine’ which was written by the great Willie Dixon, then used in the glam rock era as the basis for T Rex’s ‘Jeepster’. This chugs along in much the same fashion with some cool lyrics to match the mood: -“Give me whisky, give me wine/ love that woman, she sure is fine/ Long is the night, dark is the day.”
|
One track that really shows that Chris is lyrically in a league of his own is: - ‘Last Orders’, a classic take on a funeral wake. This comes across as more rooted within the English folk scene than blues, but is no less gripping for that. Chris’ vocals are very clear and this makes the listener hang on every word: - “Drinking and smoking, shuffling and sighing/ The mourners all gather outside The Red Lion/And it’s gonna be a very long day, with livers pounded along the way/ Pint glasses filled with cigarette ends will mark the demise of another dear friend.”
The picture Chris paints with this wordplay is spot on, and his description of the bereaved hits hard: - “And the widow’s in the corner, blotchy and red/ And she retches at the thought of her vacated bed."
Overall, this is a very good release, worth getting hold of. It appears to be a limited edition CD which is available from The Viper Label online. Get hold of it while you can!
|
