Songs: Ohia - "Just Be Simple"
A weeping lap steel lament, “Just Be Simple” is what it preaches. Its simplicity is such that it strikes a resounding chord of familiarity on first listening, like you have heard it on the car radio a thousand times before.
In Songs: Ohia’s latest work, Jason Molina calls to mind a struggling but dignified idealized America (as it only exists in song). He moves away from Will Oldham, and while maintaining a similarity in feeling to some of Neil Young’s work, adds to it the working class Americana of The Band or Bob Seeger.
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Joan Armatrading - "Love and Affection"
A folk singer from St. Kitts, Joan Armatrading was joined by members of Fairport Convention and The Faces for her self-titled third album. She abandoned the solo acoustic folk that characterized her first two records for a full band and heavily produced pop/rock.
“Love and Affection” isn’t a perfect song. Its production is dated and there’s a sax solo at 2:51 that leaves something to be desired (i.e. its absence). Yet Armatrading’s voice and songwriting shine through and it doesn’t take long to get past the shortcomings. Her voice is always precise, but varies wildly in tone, sometimes angelic and gossamer (as in the opening bars), sometimes yearning and passionate (as when she sings “really dance/really move/really love”), and then at other times wide open and soulful (“with friends I still feel so insecure”). Sometimes she engages in a fiery gospel as when she calls for her interlocutor to “sing it, sing it” just before the unfortunate sax solo.
At a certain point Clarence Carter decided that he would only sing about the extent of his skill in love making (c.f. the subtly titled “Strokin’,” “I Like To Screw,” “Sixty Minute Man,” “I’m Not Just Good, I’m The Best,” and (my favourite) “Who’s Making Love To Your Old Lady?” (I assume the answer is you, Clarence)). Luckily, before he made that choice, he recorded his hit single, “Patches:” a southern soul classic whose subject matter could not be further from that of his later, hornier work.
“Patches” is the story of a thirteen year old boy who is forced to take responsibility for his family when his father passes away early in the song. He manages to till the fields, tend the chickens and attend school every day. I’m not going to lie to you, readers: things were not always easy for Patches.
It seems that if this song is at all autobiographical, Carter earned the salacious lifestyle he was so fond of bragging about in his later work.
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If Jim James (My Morning Jacket’s singer) didn’t have such a wussy voice, I could imagine the protagonist of this song being played by Tom Berenger or Sam Elliot. A real cowboy with dirt on his face and plaid on his back, seeing a girl and awkwardly professing his feelings for her.
“Hurtin, Beatin, ain’t no need for repeatin... you never gotta bleed for me/ chance, glance, sho’ nuff mood for romancin... you only gotta dance with me.”
It’s sort of not the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard. And also, it’s kind of the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard.
Between verse and chorus, James sings like the long tones of a trumpet, blending seamlessly with the tightly interwoven guitars, the dumb grin of the drums. Everything’s soaked in reverb; a half-forgotten memory made hazier by the intense heat (from the sunny melody) and dryness (from the sandy bass (like an unplugged electric)).
(Consider that metaphor mixed).