FLYIN SHOES REVIEWS
2000

 
Poet, playwright, singer/writer …now that’s the kind of thing F.S.R. condones utterly. A past that included gigging with a bunch of fiddlers and striking out from hometown Knoxville for the City Lights shrine in S.F. We’re talking Beat all-righty. Even wrote about fellow Knoxville homeboy James Agee. Hell he’s nine-tenths of the way to a good review here already. Add to that the fact that his first record garnered rave reviews and was put out on John Prine’s ‘Oh Boy’ label and it looks like a ‘Shoe-in’.

Well almost because this disc on ‘minor-major’ label Koch goes some way to backing up all of this and yet curiously also undermines it with some quite honestly weaker tracks.
Opener ‘Zeke and the Wheel’ is apocalyptic fire-and-brimstone preacher blues. Nowt wrong with that and as the acoustic opening spirals into heavy drums and guitar the spoken blues is convincing if not a bit over the top…’I heard voices….old testament stuff. Heads down for some Crazy Horse histrionics methinks when lo and behold the mood switches faster than a bad mule. A tender acoustic strum that ranks up with anything Robert Earl Keen, Prine or dare I say it his Bobness have penned. Even a bit of ol’ Townes in there. 10/10. lyrics are beautiful …’your body is a house you must be prepared to leave.. It’s track three that really cuts the mustard here. ‘Distillery’ is the bastard son of Earle’s ‘Copperhead Road’ and Bob and The Band with someone from the Magic Band breaking down the back door. Fantastic track where everything works. R.B.Morris intones like a moonshinin’ medicine man across melodramatic psychedelic guitar and organ and the basement tapes groove really works as he rambles on. A loose yet perfect track…’..speak dialect, that’s what James say’.

The top marks continue with next track ‘A winter’s tale’. God almighty if he can pen succinct and lyrical vignettes like this he could turn out better singer-songwriter discs with just his guitar than many an artist. This track alone carries more conviction and pure craft than most we hear these days.

Then the wheels don’t exactly fall off the wagon but we’re in boogie territory, a bit Green on Red a lot Mellancamp –fine but is this really what the world needs – more ‘gud ‘ol boy rawk’. The one fast, one slow rhythm hits again only this time the crisp acoustic balladry shown earlier is swamped by some uncharacteristic wimsy. Not my cup of tea but there again I’m still not sure ‘Tunnel of Love’ ain’t syrup too. Fine if you like that sort of thing. Feels like a bit of ‘crossover’ potential being sought. Shame. Speeding up we rawk through ‘You my love'. Which I’d dismiss more easily if it didn’t have such a great hook and the alt-c by numbers backing doesn’t detract. Before you think I’m totally down on this release let me hasten to say that this disc is better than nine-tenths of the dross around it’s just I had real high expectations and think that when R.B. hits the right notes he could be one of the best of the current generation. ‘She sings me songs of Solomon’ is evocative but doesn’t really go anywhere. That fire and brimstone raises its ugly head again in ‘Call me Zeke’ – YES.

This weird spoken blues groove is great stuff and the music is equally interesting.
Equally groovy is the perfect rockabilly strut of ‘long arm of the law’ –fun stuff. Then things are wound up with a laid back country ballad. Well written, well played but….
Give me that crazy moonshiner spouting beat poetry out in the pines…R.B. spent a while out in the woods. Get thee back there and start talking to the snakes…..we need you to keep cutting back the kudzu not laying down love songs in some fm sidewalk café.

We’ve been treated to a fair bit of Bill Mallonee’s melodic gifts on this side of the channel lately and indeed his songs have even made it to the Bob Harris programme on Radio Two. Despite a more than messy career that has seen many band and label changes including the company that was originally to release this disc going belly-up Mr. Mallonee has resolutely kept the faith. Maybe his strong Christianity had some bearing on his perseverance but whatever the source of his passion it’s paid off on this the most accomplished VOL disc to date. There’s a sure-footed confidence and swagger about it that was missing before. Maybe the presence of friend Buddy Miller ( not untalented in his own right) plus stellar guests Julie Miller, Tammy Rogers and Emmylou Harris just brought the best in Bill to the boil. Standout tracks include ’Extreme North of the Compass’ which in its live incarnation fairly blisters the paint not to mention the soul. ‘Resplendent’ is just that with a great lyric about the depression farmer that is gilded with Emmylou's wonderous voice. ‘Lost my first-born that winter, my wife on the first day of spring…’A biblical dust-bowl blues with ethereal atmosphere as Bill sings his heart out over a beautiful backing. Other tracks like ‘Starry-Eyed’ are reminiscent of the REM like tracks on previous disc ‘To the roof of the sky’ but Miller polishes the chrome of the song until it shines. Mallonee has always had the songwriting ‘chops’ but a sympathetic producer has brought the full on rock-band into focus. At times the sheer intensity of his band performances lost the subtleties which could only be guessed at by referring to his solo performances. The actual Compass release includes one of those more reflective acoustic songs ‘ Black cloud over me’ whereas my pre-release has a different track selection. Amongst the ‘rockin’ Earle-like 'Could be a lot worse’ ( shades of Miller’s other buddy carried over?) the only slower tracks are ‘Nothing like a train’ with its slow-burning Hammond fuse and last cut ‘Your part of the story’that ambles like Nashville Dylan. ‘Train’ is a great track that works well played solo or with band – sure sign of a good writer at work. ‘She walks on Roses’ spins like a top round the mandolin figure. That’s it. Righteous music that doesn’t preach.

There is also a separate disc called ‘Free for Good’ in the UK that collects spontaneous takes on some of the Audible Sigh tracks recorded near Cheltenham, England with just a three piece and a lot of first takes. Guess what –it’s smashing and in my opinion even better than Sigh which is a polished – ‘major’ record alright. Sort of a ‘VOL basement tape’ fuelled by English beer and rain. More than worth seeking out.