ALBUM REVIEWS
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ALBUM REVIEWS |
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Jesse Malin
ON YOUR SLEEVE ONE LITTLE INDIAN 7.04.08 @www.vanguard-online.co.uk Jesse Malin is a fan, through and through. Any interview with the man will head off racing through lists of his inspirations and the references are worth following up. Of course he has a love for punk but there are other, authentically American , artists that hit the spot for him and gigs will usually see a cover or two surfacing, often Neil Young or The Clash. So this album of covers kicks off with Neil’s Looking For A Love – a nicely obscure choice with My Young’s melodic gift to the fore. After 3 good albums, received with varying amounts of commercial success, Jesse has decided to pay tribute to his favourites with a quickly recorded album – into the studio for a week and turn out an album. The Ramone’s Rock’n’Roll Radio gets the treatment next and the album is shaping up well. Third selection, an obscure Stones song, Sway, has a strangely eighties production. The Hold Steady have a song here, as do The Kills and even the very obscure and depressive Jim Croce. The Clash are featured via Gates Of The West, highlighting the strong tune but lacking the searchlight brilliance of the original. It kind of sums up the album – a lovely journey through Jesse’s internalised record collection and filtered through his own style. And that style is a nasally-inflected troubadour, which is great for the stories of losers and rebellion and political rallying cries of his original material. We’re very fond of the three previous albums and especially the epic live shows but this is no more than a curio for fans. There is a lovely tip of the hat to seventies glam popsters, The Sweet, in the intro to Simon & Garfunkel’s Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard, which becomes Malin’s own. Other little winks like that turn up elsewhere and I’ll leave you to find them for yourself. Lou Reed’s Walk On The Wild Side is something few people should risk touching and, while Malin does it no disservice, he adds nothing. Elton John is the surprise addition, from the days when he could rock a bit and hung out with The Faces. The Kills’ Rodeo Town is a stomper, lacking the menace of the duo’s recording. Sam Cooke turns up – Wonderful World and is sweet. And before we say goodbye, an early Tom waits ballad turns up, followed by a song I first heard done by country MORster, Glen Campbell, just to show Mr Malin’s eclectic taste. A pleasant journey but go and catch a live show or buy one of the other albums. www.jessemalin.com |