This is the full length debut album by Lon's long lost relative Robert most of the songs on the album could have been outlines for films starring Lon as they have a bleak horror within them. From the opening Black Eyed Susan it's obvious this album is going to be a dark ride as he sings about letting the police in at 4 in the morning after he's given Susan her black eye while sounding similar to Richard Warrens solo album or Trent Miller it's dark and brooding and this explosive relationship that's played out in the song as the relationship combusts and this album starts to take us on its dark ride.
The Morning After is a song of regret for whatever happened the night before that's almost as bleak as Sam Barker as he wonders what made her leave it's full of regret but at the same time he's not sure if he wants those regrets. Does Your Love Pay Out In Full? Sees him catching his girlfriend selling herself to get by it's far more wistful than angry and yet the lyrics are so bitter and twisted and what else would you expect. Patch It Up sees him trying to well get past the problems and see if they can't get things sorted out, can that ever happen well with an acoustic guitar sounding this good it might just might as long as the song doesnt go all Bob Frank on us and there is always a chance of that on an album like this.
The Simplest Words seems to be more of an apology to the love he's upset it's plaintive and unsparing in its look at how you manage to say the simple things that have become unsayable, will she listen to him or is she beyond caring. Well she really ought to listen to this almost Townes Van Zantish song. The Cyclist is far darker being about having an affair with your brother's wife as soon as that is set up in the first verse you know it won't end well and well I'll not give away just how dark it gets, some would say it's just the price you pay for that sort of sordid adventure.
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I Didn't Want Her Anyway is one of those lines normally only spoken by someone who really wants her is this song any different well maybe but he spends so much time describing her and all the ways he doesn't want her HMM. Birds and Bees is more slight than most of the other songs on the album as he's switched from guitar to what sounds like an banjo being finger picked in a very sparse manner it’s also about the only song that sounds at all upbeat on the album although it has enough of a sting in its tail.
Corazones Amarillo however is as dark as it comes as a school bus careens off the road and into a ditch causing much pain and heartbreak of the sort of event that leaves a big imprint on anyone who witnesses it as a normal school run becomes a news story an elegy for the lost and changed lives. The album closes with The Ballad Of Edward and Lisa yes another dark tale of a relationship gone wrong as the police get called to another scene of domestic disaster with a bible bashing witness it's a fine dark song that is very much in the Bob Frank/John Murry murder ballad tradition a great song to close a very dark and interesting album.
Find out more at www.robertchaney.net
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