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The Arlenes
Going To California
Loose Music VJCD 151
By Marianne Ebertowski
 Going to California,
let's see how long I last.
("Going to California")
The Arlenes, a.k.a Englishman Steve Pulford and his US-born
wife Stephanie Arlene, former back-up singer with the LA punk
outfit The Flesheaters, and a Londoner since 1987, were the darlings
of the Camden alt.country club circuit (North West London).
Their debut album "Stuck on Love" spent six weeks on
the UK country charts and was generally considered one of the
finest British country releases. At the end of last year, they
packed their suitcases and their baby and left for Sacramento,
California where they are musical non-entities. Will they last
long? Well, we'll see. Their second album, Going to California,
produced by an old friend, Mike Stewart (producer of the Gourds)
at Wire Studios in Austin, Texas and recorded with the help of
various Gourds, Jon Dee Graham on lap steel and their original
guitarist Al Christie, shows that their new home has inspired
them to write and play some very cool music.
The album tells the whole story of the couple's relocation:
the packing up, the long goodbyes, the looking back in anger
or sadness, the memories, the traveling, the hope for the future.
The album features a broad range of styles, all songs are self-written
with the exception of a Charlie Rich cover and both partners,
who are equally fine vocalists, take turns in singing and harmonizing.
It all starts quietly with "Smallville 336," hummed
and strummed by Steve on acoustic guitar, which then develops
into something very loud and poppy with Stephanie's voice tearing
the muffling curtains down. This beginning is reminiscent of
the Demolition String Band's sparkling Pulling up Atlantis.
A different mood is explored in "What am I waiting for?"
where Steve sounds like a melancholy Chris Isaacs meeting a lonesome
Debbie Harris somewhere in the Californian desert.
The musical tide keeps changing. First, Stephanie demonstrates
her quiet (vocal) side in "Baby Brother, "a brilliantly
finger-picked acoustic tune. "You pick a fight with mama,
you pick a fight with me," she warns her younger sibling
in what is basically a great pop song accompanied by traditional
country instruments in a traditional style. Then it's time for
Steve to shift gears for the title song "Going to California,"
the sort of electrified and electrifying country rocker John
Fogerty might be proud to have written.
The Gourds' Claude Bernard provides the zydeco feel for the swampy
duet "Love Her Like a Demon." Next Jon Dee Graham
contributes the mournful lap steel for "Married Life,"
a song which (maybe unconsciously) sounds as boring as this subject
apparently tends to get for a majority of people. The cheerfulness
returns with "Travelling Song" (well, yes, they stick
to the British spelling), a highly enjoyable fiddle-laced honky-tonk
tune, sung by Steve in real hard country fashion.
More hard country is to follow with "Don't Turn Away,"
a tune that has all the classy sadness of a George Jones song.
With Steve's tear-stained vocals, Jon Dee Graham's crying pedal
steel and Stephanie's soothing harmonizing, it has the potential
of a real country classic. Just as amazing is the Arlenes' cover
of Charlie Rich's 'What's My Name?" Accompanied by mariachi
trumpets and accordion with a brief searing electric guitar solo
in the middle that immediately gives way to the trumpets again,
Steve performs it like a slightly "calexicoed" Marty
Robbins. I take my sombrero off for this one!
The album closes with "Junkie £'s," an angry
song with a pacifying zydeco feel about someone who stole Steve's
guitar, and then Steve Pulford's ultimate torch song "Tempted,"
a bluesy, piano- and lap steel-laced gem that deserves a lot
more attention than it will probably get.
Going to California is an uplifting and truly enjoyable
album. It features potent songwriting and fine harmonies; keeping
a perfect balance between hard country and sparkling pop. It
is accessible and rootsy at the same time. I'll keep my fingers
crossed that their California dreaming will come true.
www.loosemusic.com
Contact Marianne Ebertowski at ebertowski-at-rockzilla.net
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