4/5
Flowers For Dylan.
'Feeling Strangely Fine' when she had 'Gone To The Movies' with Semisonic back in '98, Dan Wilson told us that, "the Wallflowers CD ended half an hour ago." Well this weekend we get 40 minutes worth of 'Exit Wounds' like a Jet Li and late, great DMX movie as we sit on the wall to watch Bob's boy's band's latest album finally bloom like rosebud. We're just a fly on the wall, but it sure must be hard being the son of a songwriting legend with a last name like Dylan. Just ask Sean Ono Lennon. But just like that 'Beautiful Boy', this Wallflower is no shrinking violet. Making his own fist name, until you spell it right. Jakob Dylan has recorded stirring solo albums that his father would be proud to put in the family album of his own songbook ('Seeing Things', 'Women + Country' and the 'Echo In The County' documentary film soundtrack). This tambourine and many more instrument man has his own voice and CAN sing. But hold up the sign, it's with his group The Wallflowers were this Dylan has found his fame. 1989, the roots rock of Los Angeles was formed. And after their '92 self-titled debut they slowly became subtle legends on the California classic coast scene like ocean colour. The 'One Headlight' Grammy winners, 'Bringing Down The Horse' forget house and causing a '(Breach)' with the 'Murder 101' with the main attraction, Elvis Costello. The 'Red Letter Days' of these 'Rebel, Sweetheart's' stepped out of any famous face shadow in the bright lights of Hollywood and since their last album 'Glad It's Over' came out in 2012, we're glad it's really not in this script rewrite end. Because flip the last two digits around and this years 'Exit' is their epic best in years. We're talking years before the last album of almost a decade ago. Now ten years later the son of Sara ("Saaaraa") and his band on the run are back and 'Exit Wounds' opens with an explosion of purple dust on the futuristic cover as Dylan tells us today, 'Maybe Your Hearts Not In It No More'.
But there's is as Jakob sings, "There’s no fire beneath the smoke/No one’s got you up by the coat/Not a razor up to your throat/You can go anytime through any door/Maybe your heart’s not in it no more", over classic American acoustic. The 'Roots and Wings' grow and spread further on this "heavy burden" that gets far on its own. On the single these 'Flowers recently given to and performed Late Night for James Corden, Jakob sings, "And I showed you how to swing/Yeah, I showеd you how to strut/That's my mojo you're using/That's my wine getting you drunk/And it was I that brokе you in/I got you cleaned, clipped and cut/And you're a mule among horses/I took you when God stood you up/Now tell me, who could do more?/Set myself on fire keeping you warm/And now I'm off the hook/And he's on your chin." Sounding like his solo, the songs songbook is getting bigger with lyrics like this. Wall-to-wall, 'I Hear The Ocean (When I Wanna Hear Trains)' is another classic toy could find on the jukebox of a roadstop bar, no matter how you come into town. Boat or train. The set just continues going round like needle on vinyl with the hypnotic 'The Dive Bar In My Heart' that continues to circle the glass as the whiskey is drained. Another stirring single worthy of its number telling us that it's, "Strange to see you on this side of town/It's not your people or your kind of crowd/Just nobodies here, we're drinking flat beer/Away from the battleground." And when it comes to Christmas at the "locals have already left", "There's no sleigh bells in winter time/There's no top shelf or decent wine/It's another slow jam, same awful band/It's the last stop, the end of line/And you're on the list where I'm easy to find."
Feather drums lightly touch on something much deeper on 'Darlin' Hold On' that moves like a lovers lullaby in harmony with, "You were born on your feet/With the stem of a rose between your teeth/From a cloud of golden air/Where the sky meets the city streets/You were already wise/To a world that's bitter as it's sweet/With both kinds of magic/And God never gets his sleep" devotions for this dedicated duet. The blues of these type of records help 'Move The River' as the most legendary great American singer/songwriters son makes his own way to half a century. Hitting the reservoir of work that will keep his own legacy flowing for generations. Well, well, well. Keeping it watered on the beautiful blooming brood of 'I'll Let You Down (But I Will Not Give You Up' The Wallflowers give us another legendary love song for our broken hearts and those long drives into the night. Heading down a highway were our misery loves the company of what we tap and tune into on the radio when the roadside motel tube just won't do. "The fuel line is leaking and the fumes are now too much/The rescue is leaving having not been brave enough/The guide book we’re sharing has ended with saying/You’ll do whatever you must/No sign of the ground or a deal left to be struck", these 'Flowers lament. On the 'Wrong End Of The Spear' these songs spear the heart, but on 'Who's That Man Walking' Round My Garden', the Wallflowers really rock out in a beautiful bloom. Right before the closing of 'The Daylight Between Us' which compels-we hope-more to come, sooner than last time. "Well, the men were drinking wine and the women, they'd split/To smoke French cigarettes/We'll do a couple rails and sit around and bitch/Lie down and get sick/In the morning there's a line of ashes in the sink/And bruises on her lips/The candles that were lit had melted on the cake/As if they were over it/Now she's looking for the dog and a last hit/For water and a first aid kit/But it used to be еnough to taste it", Dylan laments for the last time this time out. No longer shyly stuck to the wall, holding up the end of the bar or playing the background, these Wallflowers are seeing the sun now. From here on out they're growing towards the light. And it's going to be a beautiful sight. No matter how deep the wound, this is far from an exit. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'Roots And Wings', 'Darlin' Hold On', 'The Daylight Between Us'.
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