|
| |
|
|
Jay Farrar
STONE, STEEL & BRIGHT LIGHTS
(Transmit Sound/Artemis)
|
|
|
|
|
Neither of Jay Farrar’s former bands — Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt — ever released a live album, so fans will be heartened by this excellent grab bag of recordings from last year’s tour that had Farrar backed by the Washington-based trippy rockers Canyon. The band add splashes of psychedelic color to songs from Farrar’s two solo albums. Those touches — they’re not quite rethinks — are especially welcome on such songs from his recent Terroir Blues as "All of Your Might" and "No Rolling Back." "Cahokian" turns into a gripping, majestic dirge, and the rather silly "Fool King’s Crown" almost sounds like a good idea with Canyon’s energetic backing. Numbers from 2001’s Sebastopol — "Vitamins," "Damn Shame," and "Voodoo Candle" — get straightforward, powerful readings. Still, the whole thing sounds somewhat restrained, as if Farrar’s main concern were keeping everybody under control. On an accompanying (slightly grainy) DVD of excerpts from a concert at Slim’s in San Francisco, Canyon always seem to want to cut loose more than Farrar; he plays the watchful father to their otherwise untethered youthful enthusiasm. Only on two barnstorming covers — the Pink Floyd chestnut "Lucifer Sam" and Neil Young’s "Like a Hurricane" — do you see and hear some real uninhibited fire, with Farrar rocking out and turning in some wild soloing reminiscent of his Tupelo days. By and large, Stone, Steel & Bright Lights attests that for, better or worse, he’s all grown up.
|
