Son Volt Reviews - London, May 2nd 2005

Son Volt are arguably the most established and well thought of band in modern americana, and four (updated!) of our writers caught up with them in London for their comeback gig supporting their new studio album “Okemah and the Melody of Riot” Here are their four (updated again!!) different interpretations of that evening...

Son Volt - Carling Islington Academy, London - 2nd May 2005
Review by Nic Fildes

Years ago, I saw a very decent Australian indie band called Even tarnish their reputation with a preposterous version of Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love.' When the singer started aping Robert Plant's falsetto yelping, a lesson was etched on my brain; an ill-placed cover version can undo years of work. Thus when the Gretsch of Son Volt's enigmatic leader Jay Farrar began cranking out Led Zeppelin's 'Communication Breakdown,' I started to worry. Wasn't this meant to be an "alt-country" gig? Yet Farrar laid fears to rest as the newly-formed Son Volt ripped through the air guitar classic, hardly working up a sweat in the process. Farrar was merely tipping his hat, not filling his boots. It's been seven years since Son Volt's last effort and many assumed it was all over. But there were no signs of cobwebs, and the as-yet unreleased material from the unexpected new record was as keenly welcomed as old favourites 'Windfall,' 'Straightface' and 'Tear Stained Eye.' The other great relief for fans was that despite Farrar replacing every member of the band - the reunion of original members for Alejandro Escovedo's Por Vida benefit record proving unsustainable - Son Volt still sound topnotch. Brad Rice, a Londoner, proved a fantastic find for Farrar, his versatility shining through with resplendent solos throughout the night. Farrar isn't the average frontman and looking at him, you would swear he would rather be anywhere else than on stage. But what he lacks in on-stage showmanship, he more than makes up for in his down-to-earth attitude. Like The Pixies, Farrar just gets on with it. He rarely addressed the relatively small crowd, focusing instead on showcasing the material. It's been a long time coming, but on this performance, Son Volt's new record could prove one of their best.

Son Volt - Carling Islington Academy, London - 2nd May 2005
Review by Pete Gow

Having failed to reach suitable terms & conditions to satisfy the needs of Messrs Boquist, Boquist & Heidorn, the Son Volt Mk II that presents itself front & centre for a tour of duty at Islington’s Carling Academy comprises of Andrew Duplantis (bass), Dave Bryson (drums) and, replacing Brad Rice for the European gigs, our very own James Walbourne on guitar. Perhaps the original members are still smarting after having had their tenure cut surprisingly short (surprising only to them) after 1994’s ‘Wide Swing Tremolo’ tour. ‘Rode hard & put away wet’ indeed. So seven years after the last live performance and with a retrospective compilation hitting the shelves at the end of the month was there a chance to find ourselves waist high in sentimentality? It came as no surprise at all to find this not to be the case with Jay Farrar. Tonight was about previewing material from the forthcoming ‘Okemah & the Melody of Riot’; If the live sound is in anyway representative of the recordings then this is a natural follow up to Wide Swing Tremolo, in itself the toughest & rockiest of the three albums documented by the original group. Tight riffs, well thought out arrangements & weaving wordplay creating their own ‘skipping reels of rhyme’ very much as clear & present on the new songs as any that have passed before them.

While I am unfamiliar enough with the new record not to be able to identify specific tracks, clearly most of it was on offer tonight. I did recognise ‘6 String Belief’ from the solo shows & this to has been given the unique Son Volt twin riff make over, lending it much more attack & urgency than last years interpretation. Of the rest of the new stuff, a song with the refrain ‘The words of Woody Guthrie ringing in my head’ was definitely the pick of an incredible bunch. The set was peppered with ‘classic’ Son Volt, in the main from Wide Swing Tremolo but adding tracks such as ‘Drown’, ‘Loose String’ as well as the ubiquitous ‘Tear Stained Eye’ and ‘Windfall’ from debut Trace… in fact, Straightaways was the only album completely unrepresented, which was odd, given that ‘Caryatid Easy’ and ‘Cemetery Saviour’ would have fitted perfectly into the sound of tonight’s line up. To finish off, a selection of covers which included readings of Led Zep’s ‘Communication Breakdown’ and Neil Young’s ‘Cortez the Killer’ …. A fitting choice as, I suspect, thoughts of Zuma were never too far from mind when recording any of the Son Volt albums.

At times the loss of multi- instrumentalist Dave Boquist was felt, leaving them to concentrate on the rockier material perhaps losing a little texture and balance to the show. The songs with which to counter this are certainly available. That said, Walbourne is capable of standing in, not just Boquist’s, but indeed anyone’s shoes. He clearly is the finest exponent of lead guitar on the circuit at present & his solo on ‘Windfall’ was enough to make a grown man cry. Elsewhere he perfectly captured what separates Son Volt from Farrar’s solo work (while two of tonight’s musicians, Walbourne & Bryson played with Jay last year) – simply put an overdriven Gibson Firebird that rocked the Academy like it has not been rocked in a long time.

So the first Son Volt show that I have been party to was pretty much what I expected. It was never going to be a greatest hits package &, quite rightly, the new material was given pride of place. Farrar as an on stage performer was equally unlikely to take up too much room in this review, but in spite of his apparent discomfort, he continues to write, for my ears, some of the strongest songs this side of his own heroes. His lyrical acuity & use of language as imagery is unparallelled within the genre and (as I have said countless times on this site) his true worth as a composer, recognised for his contributions to popular music is coming. Sadly & probably… a long time coming.

Son Volt - Carling Islington Academy, London - 2nd May 2005
Review by Patrick Wilkins

Jay Farrar and new band convert a sceptic in a stunning blaze of guitar glory. I was approaching this one from an odd direction, I haven’t much liked Son Volt records though I have one (possibly two?), and I thought Jay Farrar's Terroir Blues was just horrible, dull, whiny and uninspired. On the principal that you can't really write anyone off completely till you've seen them live, they were playing in London, and I was passing through, so I thought I may as well be there, to eliminate them from my enquiries once and for all. Islington Academy, tucked away in a north London shopping mall, probably holds 700 or so, it was full but not sold out. It could have been because my expectations were so low, or maybe I just missed the point from the records alone, but I on this evidence I need a rethink. For some reason I decided to choose between the Uncle Tupelo off shoots and went for the Wilco/Tweedy branch rather than Son Volt/Farrar, but right from the start of this show I had the feeling I have got that wrong. I have struggled with 'A Ghost Is Born' and the last Wilco show I saw did nothing for me, this was way better, sharper, punchier. There were two major contributions to my enjoyment, firstly the fact that Jay's voice, which on record I have found hard to bare for more than a few songs at a time, was lower in the mix, which, coupled with some occasional poppy guitar washes leant an almost shoegazer feel to proceedings (although having the downside of not really being able to make out much of the lyrics), this meant an increased focus on the music rather than the voice, a change of emphasis which made a big difference to me.

The second element was guitarist James Welbourne, making a hometown appearance, this was jaw dropping guitar playing! Already having played with Peter Bruntnell and the Pernice Brothers, he is surely destined for great things. One song featured a slide guitar solo that was simply amazing, building and building like some manic eastern mantra, calling to mind Jimmy Page in his heyday. Wonderful, loud as hell, and so not what I was expecting! I’m not that familiar with Son Volt/Jay's material, but recognised a few staples, the main set closed with 'Drown', and others popular with some of the diehards in the crowd, from 'Trace' in particular, such as 'Tear Stained Eye' showed up. Jay, quiet and fairly static throughout, introduced a couple of songs as being from the new record, which were easily as good as the older material. James Welbourne really shone when let loose on an epic and breathtaking encore, RL Burnside' s moody crunching blues 'Goin Down South', was followed by a flame throwing rifferama work through Zeppelin's 'Communication Breakdown' topped off with Neil Young's 'Cortez the Killer'. You can judge a band by its covers and as 'Goin Down South' kicked in I was mumbling to myself, well this is RL Burnside, OK, I know when Im beaten, Ive been wrong about Jay Farrar.

Son Volt - Carling Islington Academy, London - 2nd May 2005
Review by James Clark

If my maths is anything to go by Jay Farrar addressed a total of nine words to the audience at this gig, yet he left them quite simply in raptures. If only he could only teach this skill to our politicians he’d be as admired across the country as he is amongst his fan-base. Experienced Farrar-watchers will tell you that “Hello everybody, good to see you again”, and “Thanks everybody” is a soliloquy of Bono-esque proportions from this man who says little outside his songs, and yet manages to say so much in his lyrics - surely amongst the most literary of modern American song-writers. Both mumbled phrases were greeted like a Papal wave by the packed crowd at the Islington Academy. Hero-worship much in evidence. Yet this is hero-worship with a difference. Since he and Jeff Tweedy first sold a more relevant and irreverent roots music back to the kids of their blue-collar Belleville, Illinois hometown as Uncle Tupelo, fans have been seduced not by hype but by the sheer quality and originality of his song-writing, the depth and variety of his music, the poetic use of words and verbal rhythm and his dogged, steadfast determination not to compromise in search of the cash. In not compromising, he has become such an unwilling father to the alt-country movement that The Child Support Agency should be looking him up.

Billy Bragg, a man who knows a thing or two about not compromising, once sang that he saw no shame in “seeking some more relevance than spotlight and applause”. Farrar has been doing the same for 15 years, perhaps more quietly, and without involving himself in too many headline causes. The difference, with not a jot of disrespect to wonderful The Bard of Barking, is that Farrar has been just as determined to rock the hell out of people too. With that in mind, the choice of this venue was a clever one. Intimate without being small, it gave almost everyone who wanted it a chance to get suitably close to the stage but still ensured a good turnout. It’s hard to know for whom this gig was more important – the band or the crowd.

Farrar has reformed SV minus the entire original line-up after a bitter and (for Farrar) shocking fall-out over money. After the massive commercial success of “Trace” (1995 – Warner/Grain Elevator) and the critical success of its follow-ups, Farrar set out on a solo career, performing in various guises from one-man show, to two-man show with the dazzling Mark Shepherd on guitar, to full band with various musicians including Canyon – along with two studio albums, two live albums and two EPs. A desire to return to the full-band experience, to make some noise and to change his sound again led to the rebirth of SV and this tour, with this being the only UK date. It was an, therefore, crucial both in promoting the new album (“Okemah and the Melody of Riot” – Transmit Sound – out July 11) and reconnecting with the European audience so many American “alt-country” artists have found makes not only a nice little earner, but also an ironic springboard to success back at home. So, important then.

But it’s just as likely to have meant as much if not more to the audience. This was a crowd of believers, disciples (and heretics dragged along by the believers and told to be ready to be knocked out). This was a crowd of people who, when asked by friends who this bloke Farrar that they won’t shut up about is, sigh and say with a resigned air “Well, you’ve heard of Wilco right?” This was an audience for whom Farrar turning out to be not very good would have been a bit like a carbon-dating of the Bible proving it was written using Microsoft Word on a PC in Oldham. Consequently, they were nervous and uncomfortable when the venue was no more than a third full for the support (The Havenots, see review elsewhere). They needn’t have worried – by the time Farrar walked out in trademark button-collar shirt and t-shirt, followed by Dave Bryson (drums – Canyon), Andrew Duplantis (bass – John Dee Graham, Meat Puppets, Bob Mould) and London-based baby-faced guitar assassin James Walbourne (Pernice Brothers, Peter Bruntnell) the place was heaving.

Farrar occasionally likes to challenge his audience, perhaps most famously by insisting on playing sets full of tracks from the notoriously (to some) impenetrable Terroir Blues record a few years ago, and only rewarding them with “old favourites” towards the end. It was inevitable then that SV would be playing a few tunes from the imminent new record, and so it proved from the start. More on the new tracks in a moment. Second on the set-list was a Son Voltised version of the otherwise acoustic “6-String Belief”, and anthem to the relevance of rock and roll in changing the world. It summed up the difference between Farrar sans Volt and the full band sound. When it first appeared it was a solo acoustic track, but in London is was a full-blown, multi-riffed guitar effort.

A number of the new tracks followed, before the more familiar “Driving The View” appeared, along with other crowd-pleasers like “Windfall” and “Tear-Stained Eye”. On first listen the new songs sound likely to herald a great new record. Classic SV, layered, rocking, slide guitar-filled tracks reminiscent of their early work, rather than another Terroir Blues style Farrar change of direction. SV fans look like being in for a treat in July.

The band was on excellent form, and none more so than 24-year-old Londoner Walbourne (a temporary member for the European dates). Walbourne has been known to Farrar since he was just 18 and, according to folks at Farrar’s (self-owned) label Transmit Sound “he has always been this gifted”. That’s an understatement, frankly. Walbourne was plain stunning on the night, ripping through solos with incredible energy and control, never more so than the occasions the slide emerged. His first commitment is to Joe Pernice, but Son Volt on this form could not be a better vehicle for his undoubted talents. SV deliver an energetic, powerful sound together with great layered riffs and breaks. It can, at its best, deliver all the stomping power of more straightforward rock bands alongside a deeper and more polished sound more familiar in less frenetic genres. It was at its best for this show, and by the time “Drown” faded out and Farrar ambled off with a trademark wave the crowd were already howling for more.

Farrar, in whatever guise, has always favoured covers in his encores – previous shows have featured everything from Neil Young’s “Like A Hurricane” and Pink Floyd’s “Lucifer Sam” to Townes Van Zandt’ “White Freightliner Blues”. Tonight was no different – and it tells you all you need to know about SV at their best that they gave the crowd Zeppelin’s “Communication Breakdown” followed immediately by the full guitar-fest version of Young’s “Cortez The Killer”, and carried both off fabulously. As the feedback faded on the final chords, replaced by ecstatic whoops, cheers, applause and sweaty demands for more, Farrar let the band off with another wave.

So, believers happy, heretics converted. People poured out onto the street grinning, shouting at one another via ringing ears and headed for the bars of N1 to eulogise over a pint. On this evidence there is one hell of a record coming our way on July 11. Perhaps Farrar was carried away by the emotion of the whole thing - it’s the only explanation for why he let himself go as he walked off stage…the smallest of smiles, and a mumbled ”Thanks everybody.”