'Sin City Blues' is the Latest EP from Mark Lucas & the Dead Setters, and bridges the gap between 2011's 'Putting on the Dog', and an album hopefully due for release this year.
English born, and Sydney based, singer/songwriter Mark Lucas arrived in Australia more than thirty years ago, and manages to produce a country/Americana style music, with lyrics that are up to the moment and capture life in Australia; a facet that adds to this CD's charm. Mark is backed by his long term band, The Dead Setters, which features Steve Gunning on drums and vocals, Jake Lardot on guitar, John Lee on fiddle and vocals, and Chris Mearns on bass and vocals.
There are five tracks on the EP, opening with 'House of Pain', a rocking country number that fairly flies along, with lyrics relating to love affairs: - “Romeo is anxious, he's waiting by the door/ He knows he's here for something, but he don't quite know what for...It's been so long he's standing here on this empty stage/ He remembers everything she said before the house of pain”.
'Where Your Heart Says Go' is a country rock number, with some clever lyrics apparently musing on the state of the economy and how it affects people: -“Now I'm standing here in my Sunday best,
And I'm dreaming of more but I'm settling for less/ And I'm hearing 'bout Jesus but I'm seeing Dick Cheney/ I believe in love and I don't mean just maybe...You can calculate your stocks and bonds,They won't get you where you're going/ when your gone on this long and winding road/ You've got to go where your heart says go”.
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'Sin City Blues' is a slower country style ballad being a nostalgic look back at love that was lost and found, and with an oblique reference to Paul McCartney's Wings: - “She used to see diamonds, I used to see stars/ We used to lie in the sand listening to 'Venus and Mars'”.
The fourth track is 'Soldier's Row', a brilliant anti war song, which is bang on target: - “Sometimes the thing worth fighting for is the right to stand your ground/ Young men die in old men's wars so the money goes around.”
After a track this good, the closing track 'When You're Gone' comes across as a bit of an anti climax, although that said, there is nothing wrong in itself with the track, and a different running order would have avoided this.
Overall, if this is a taster for Mark's next album, then it should be a classic.
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