| Issue
#90
Oct.
'06
I
recently completed a journey. A journey that took 30 years, yet one I
thought would never have a true conclusion. After 30 years of travel
through about 60
years of music, I finally arrived at my destination – My #1
Album of All-Time. Yes,
this was a long winding road, and while my finish line was clearly
defined, I never
realized when or how I would get there. Imagine my surprise when about
mid-August I
suddenly found that I had attained what I thought would almost
practically never be, yes
the journey was over. All the years, all the lists, all the twists,
turns, curves, forks
and speed bumps that needed to be navigated, all the lead changes and
uncertain directions
had finally paid off. I can now clearly and certainly state that for
me, the #1 Album of
All-Time is: The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys
by Traffic.
And
while every individual who travels this same (no two ever alike) road,
reaches a
different destination based on their own particular travel itinerary,
some only stay
awhile and then decide to take up the trail again…
From The Very Depths by Deep
City Elm is The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys
incarnate. Now, I’m not saying it resides along side of Low
Spark on my shelf - yet.
I’m saying listening to From The
Very Depths
brings forth every thing that is good about this style music. What
style of music? That
freeform jazz, funk rock that Steve Winwood and Traffic threw down so
well; a beatnik
style percussion section that also mirrors the tribal beat as the
rhythm section, with a
sweet, soulful, sax dancing in the margins and taking the lead when
expected and even when
unexpected. Electric and acoustic guitars guide the arrangements
through many territories,
while distinct vocals lend a personalized flair.
From The Very Depths opens with Lost For Words
and immediately establishes the drums, rhythm, and horn.
There’s a dirty fuzz tone
guitar slicing underneath as front man Ed
Leonard
wraps his tongue and face around the words, creating much more meaning
by giving certain
personifications to the cadence, syllables, and rhythmic
pronunciations. Ed’s wife
Alison adds her angelic harmonizing for some spiritual level chanting
that has this song
setting the tone for one fine groove of a ride.
That
ride continues with Walk
On Mars - Float away in ecstasy as the sax
cries out and the slammin’ chord progressions direct us
towards an otherworldly
experience, a scenic, poetic tribute to the power of love –
“with you beside me / I can do
anything.” That
just about says it all, and that’s something we find time and
time again within this
finely structured album. Deep City Elm
says
more with less words, they allow the music compositions to drive the
vehicle. The words
may steer you in the right direction, but the music provides the
propulsion.
Dinosaurs
hints at DCE’s admiration for the Cream/Blind Faith style of
power-psychedelica but
pumps it out in a grand Synchronicity era Police fusion attack before
pulling back and
leading into It’s Not
Alright. Another less-is-more poetic
reading to a funky funk beat. The vocal
inflection of Ed Leonard sets the
course. Using
a spoken singing beatnik quality to pick up the song and shove it down
our throats along
with a huge helping of the free style Jazz horn of Lawrence “LP” Patton sliding
in, out, and
around. Rick Landino’s electric guitar
and effects
dance about as Jason Smith’s
bass slinks
and slams where needed, while Chadwick Gregory’s
stick work subtly thrusts everything around to where it needs to be.
The
two-part mini-opus that is sandwiched in the middle of this album
brings yet
another unique perspective. Dreamland
starts with a ticking clock, and as
it rolls out a carpet of sound, we hear the unmistakable deep breathing
of someone
slumbering. Here, Leonard plays the sandman as the accompanying
instruments slowly dance
and slip-slide away. Beckoning, solemn, tribal drums give the
appropriate feel for “laying down
your weary bones.” “Almost in
dreamland,” puts us inside the person’s
semi-conscious, the point just before
dreams, and even death (represented here by some impromptu tribal
chanting). We can feel
the open space as conscious slips away and the semi-conscious state
becomes ethereal on a
sub-conscious level. And, it is at this level that DCE works a bit of
artistic magic with
an upfront segue into Tick-Tock,
by allowing the ticking clock to come back in, with the alarm ringing
to jar us out of
Dreamland and force us to “rush off
to work.” Tick-Tock
is a bass driven, tantalizing, damnation of society for placing
specific instructions on
time – “Tick-Tock /
Tick-Tock / Tick-Tock
/ Tick-Tock / everybody keep in step!” Dig the
clean, lean, mean sax here, as
well as the wanking guitar and excellent stick work once again.
Then,
From The Very Depths
turns into
Moonflower by Santana. The instrumental tracks; Percussion Discussion, Curses,
and the album
closer I
Still Don’t Get It, were all recorded
live at the 2006 Meriden Daffodil
Festival (Meriden, CT)
by James Campbell. James
was responsible for the 300 Mondays
documentary that profiled Ed Leonard’s Beatnik
2000 series held every Monday night at Café
9
in New Haven, CT.
Here he captures Deep City Elm
laying down their Soul Sacrifice at the Alter of Carlos Santana and his
sensational rhythm
sections of the mid 70’s. Add in a little Herb Albert and the
Tijuana Brass reference
(on Curses) and we’re sipping Martinis and getting laid,
“Ba dada da, Ba dada da…”
Finally,
it’s I
Don’t Get It and Leftright
that drive the artistic integrity deep into our brains with two thought
provoking
statements on the current condition of mankind. First, I
Don’t Get It presents a
remarkable/incredible protest to the materialistic lifestyles that have
been helping to
destroy our societies, not only habitually, but mentally as well
–
“When I want it / I don’t got it /
When I got it / I don’t want it /
And when I feel it / I can’t touch it /
When I touch it / I just don’t feel it /
Well I had it / Then I lost it /
And then I found it / and then I lost it again”
All
recited over a jammin’, up-tempo, driving rhythm with sweet
sax over the top
and exposing “It” as the greed/wealth/materialistic
–ness of man and the
cause of questioning one’s own mental sanity to the thought
of our being/existence.
This
drops us on the doorstep of Leftright.
A Performance Art piece, a lament
through the ages “I’m
crawling / I’m
walking / I’m running / I’m jumping / I’m
flying / I’m falling.”
It calls out every political/religious group that establishes a stand,
no matter how pure
or extreme it may be. It presents humanity as the part of nature that
doesn’t get
nature, and fails to realize that mankind will bring about its own
demise. Open your heart
and mind to peace and love – “I
found the
light / Lost in the darkness.”
I
found
the light in the art of music. Music represents the peace and love of
the
world. Whenever you are lost in the darkness, music can be your light
on the journey. Who
knows, maybe From The Very Depths
by Deep City Elm could be the first
road on that
journey, a journey that might conclude 30 years from now…
From The
Very
Depths by Deep City Elm
is available now for $
9.98 +s/h*
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