Just a few thoughts after receiving an advance copy of the new album. Blake composed his Songs of Innocence and Experience, and if Long Player Late Bloomer represented the hope of innocence, Forever Endeavour is the experience part of the deal. One of Ron's most reflective, melancholic albums, perhaps inspired by health issues he apparently experienced and overcame last year, Forever Endeavour contains much soul searching and a weighing up of the past: "A shadow falls across my mind/And the silence comes over me/When I look behind..." (Nowhere Is) Or this from If Only Avenue, sung to a bass line worthy of Duane Eddy: "With the luxury of hindsight/The past becomes so clear/As I look out on the twilight/My days have become years." There is also some rueful musing on past mistakes - "couldn't keep my thoughts straight/Couldn't keep my trousers on" (Snake Road) and the lovely, fragmentary Lost In Thought, occupied by "regrets and forget-me-nots." The country-folk of Sneak Out The Back Door is as good as Gordon Lightfoot in a carefree mood: "There's a man here talking my ear off/Gonna sneak out the back door." These things change with repeated listenings, but for now, Deepens With Time sounds like the album's solid gold classic: "I hear my mother's voice calling me home/Across a field so long ago...I feel my brother's hand crossing the street." For now, I cannot get the song's haunting refrain out of my head. Ron fans are in for a treat.
Terry Kelly
http://www.ronsexsmith.com/forums/thread/18030.aspx
Available early February, but here's a sneak preview:
Nobody is as good as Gordon Lightfoot
ReplyDeleteHow can you dismiss Bob like that?
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