There are some CDs that are brilliant, there are some CDs that are complete crap, and yet again, there are some that manage to defy description, teetering somewhere between the two, but never falling into either camp.
The Fall are a band such as this, and have been described as 'musical marmite', you either love them or hate them. So too with Petunia. When listening to this, at times I was taken aback by the staggering brilliance of some of the tracks, whereas at other times I was left wondering whether this was all an elaborate joke, the punchline of which I'd completely failed to comprehend.
Petunia originates from the Ste.-Dorothee, Laval, area of Quebec, and his band, The Vipers, are currently based in Vancouver, and have been touring relentlessly for the past couple of years. The band's music varies between country swing, country ballads, and the kind of primal rockabilly that would have originated in a tin shack somewhere out in the middle of nowhere, and never made it on to record. This means that for me, in places, this is very very good. It also means that because of Petunia's authentic stuttering and yodelling delivery that some of the songs are rendered incomprehensible in translation.
The band Petunia performs with, The Vipers, are excellent musically, and feature Stephen Nickleva on guitar, Jimmy Roy on lap steel, Patrick Metzger on bass and Paul Townsend on drums, ably assisted by Paul Rigby and Paul Pigat on guitars, Lache Cercel and Kathleen Nisbet on violin, J P Carter on horns, and Frank Fairfield who variously plays guitar, banjo and violin.
The album opens with an unholy bang, with the rocking, clattering 'Runaway Freight Train Heart', the sort of rockabilly number that would immediately get all the hep cats up and boppin'. Petunia's vocals steam along like the runaway train itself , singing: -
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“There was never no way on this whole goddam earth I'd ever thought I'd be saved”.
As a form of musical redemption, there is little better than this. However, I have to say that for me, the quality does vary. I didn't get on with 'Bicycle Song', a country number that opens with the longest, sustained “Well” in musical history. When it started with: - “Well, this is a bicycle song for you, my friend”, I pondered for a second as to whether this was actually the same album.
That said, the good points outweigh the bad, and with some excellent rock 'n' roll in 'The One Thing', more than makes up for this: “Well there's just one thing that keeps me satisfied,
Your love is just the one right thing, gets me through the night”.
Throughout the album, I loved the Mariachi style horns, which augment some of the rockabilly tracks and give them a distinct voodoo flavour. So, try this out, you may really like it. The band are touring the UK in November and December, and certainly, on the strength of this, the gigs will be a blast.
Petunia Music online
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