Both solo and with THE GOOD SONS, MICHAEL WESTON KING is busy proving why we don’t always have to shift our gaze Stateside to discover the very best in cosmic, rootsy rock ‘n’ roll.
According to Michael himself, activities with THE GOOD SONS have pretty much petered out now, but as his recent “Live…In Dinky Town” and solo tour prove, there’s plenty to embrace in the future.
Well, if 2001’s “Happiness” is the final instalment from THE GOOD SONS, then it’s a very fine epitaph indeed. If it’s not (who knows?) then it’s still simply a classy 40-minute album that should strike triumphant chords with anyone ravenously searching out fabulous singer/ songwriters to pig out on.
If you’re not already familiar with THE GOOD SONS, then you should know there’s healthy pedigree in the ranks. Both KING and bassist SEAN McFETRIDGE were previously with GARY HALL & THE STORMKEEPERS and guitarist PHIL ABRAM and drummer BEN JACKSON came from the vastly under-rated MIRRORS OVER KIEV, whose 1991 LP “Northern Songs” is a lost classic in itself.
Fantastically, they’re even better as THE GOOD SONS and it’s no surprise to discover that the likes of UNCUT have previously seized on this album’s finest material.
Of which there’s an embarrassment of riches. With producer DAVID WRENCH seconded on Hammond organ and CAROL DONALDSON (piano), HARRY NAPIER (cello) and ALAN COOK (pedal steel) augmenting, THE GOOD SONS bring a stately discipline to songs like the gorgeous “Rush Of Happiness” and the touching “Tim Hardin ‘65” that reminds you of THE BAD SEEDS of recent years.
In PHIL ABRAM, THE GOOD SONS also have one of the truly great lead guitarists of tha past decade or so. His work is constantly inventive and damn near perfect here, whether it’s the slashing rhythm work he brings to “Heartless Thing”; the echoing vibrato figures that drive “Both Sides Of The Faith” – where the band tamper beautifully with the percussive BO DIDDLEY beat – or the closing ”Shake This Town” where he switches from chiming arpeggios to fluid powerchording and shadows the cello and backing vocal lines. Superb.
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Regardless of THE GOOD SONS’ sterling support
however, “Happiness” at heart belongs to MICHAEL WESTON KING. I’d hesitate to describe it as his “divorce album”, but from these nakedly affecting lyrics, he’s clearly hurting and deep personal emotions inform virtually everything here. When he sings: “And that note you scrawled on the kitchen table is all that’s left of you now…in the family home” before Abram and Alan Cook take over during the Southern soul of “The Family Way” gets me every single time.
By comparison, he comes out fighting in “Reason To Live” (intro line: “You can cut my face from every photo frame – I’ve got a reason to live”) during the album’s most sustained supercharged moment. Wrench’s Hammond organ overheats to distortion, the band rock relentlessly and King’s compressed, bad transistor vocals cut through the proceedings like an electric carving knife.
If anything, though, the confessional “I Can’t Reach Him” – I surmise a touching open letter to Michael’s father – and the closing “Shake This Town” are the pick of the crop here. Personally, this writer has difficulty not to well up when hearing lyrics like: “Home is everything it’s not/ Hell is what you haven’t got.” Anyone who doesn’t must have a heart of stone.
It would be sad to think there’ll be no more from THE GOOD SONS, but with King in this sort of form, his next steps should be watched very closely indeed. Regardless of considerations, though, “Happiness” is a passion-drenched victory for fans of great songwriting and in itself an absolute valediction.
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