Scotty Alan started out in 1987 as part of a Punk trio called The Muldoons. The legacy from this background is a penchant for short, sharp songs that get straight to the point and don't outstay their welcome. For this debut solo album he manages to pack 15 tunes into 45 minutes.
Despite this admirable brevity, the recurrent and repetitive theme of a love gone bad wears a bit thin by the end and the limited range of Alan's raspy and rootsy voice, which sounds more Irish than American, doesn't allow for much variety.
His songwriting is pretty sharp though and full of droll humour, mostly at his own expense. Living in an isolated log cabin in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan presumably helps him to put some distance between himself and the heartache which he fills with a nice line in self deprecating wit.
The album title comes from the lyric to Ain't Much in which he admits to being "a wreck and a mess") and concedes "I ain't much, but I'm all you've got and I'm yours".
Other lines like "I'm building this dam for the hole in my heart" from Dam have more serious undertones but there's never any hint of him being worn down by anguish.
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The music also packs a punch through the fact that producer and multi-instrumentalist Bernie Larsen has been able to call upon a supporting cast of top rate musicians. Among the names summoned to Larsen's Spinout Studios in Los Angeles are ex-Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan, David Lindley on fiddle and Phil Parlapiano on accordion, mandolin and organ.
The album begins with a goodbye song and ends with Alan looking for someone to fight the world with.
Personally, I'd say he has more than enough break-up songs to be getting on with and next time around it'd be good to hear him set his sights on broader horizons.
Scotty Alan's website
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