Americana Music Reviews

The staff and readers of Rockzillaworld have one common and shared philosophy, and that is music, real music, (as opposed to the overly produced prefabricated stamped from the same stencil as the last album crap), is not just something that provides the soundtrack to our lives, but is rather a key part of the very fabric of our being. We cannot imagine life without quality sounds to it. We will trek all over the states (and in some cases the world) in pursuit of a fine live performance or because the lineup for a given night at a certain venue in God-only-knows-where is one that just had to be experienced. The reason that I can say is this here, in this forum, is that I know each and everyone of you know exactly what I am talking about.

In this type of philosophical atmosphere, where all music that fits under that extremely large umbrella that we call "Americana" garners a certain automatic respect, an artist of the caliber of Stan Ridgway is nothing less than a spiritual guru. Ridgway is one of those artists who in his 20 plus years of songcrafting and performing has always maintained his musical vision. He draws heavily from nearly every form of music that was the 20th century, but manages always to blend the various "inspirations" into a sound that is completely and uniquely his own. Whether it was in his days as part of the groundbreaking punk/new wave band Wall of Voodoo, or in subsequent years as a solo act, any tune by Ridgway is clearly and immediately recognizable. The only thing that rivals Ridgway's brilliant songcrafting is his ability to tell a story in song. The characters in his tales seem real, to take on a life of their own. The settings and the dramas for these tales tend to unfold like a modern day musical film noir, with Ridgway at the helm as both writer and director.

Holiday in Dirt, Ridgway's latest offering for New West Records, is no exception. While it is made up of snippets off the cutting room floor from previous albums and movie score singles, it is not a cheesy piecemeal project to appease the suits or to fulfill some contractual obligation. No. This is clearly and indelibly a Stan Ridgway production from start to finish. Present are the plots and characters that we have come to expect from his projects, stories of Los Angeles and America cast in a manner that would have made Raymond Chandler proud, often presenting the listener with the darker side of life. "Beloved Movie Star" and "Operator Help Me" are two prime examples. The former tells the story of every struggling actress who ever spent a day in the sweltering L.A heat pounding the pavement from one casting call to another. The latter is a pseudo-paranoid rendering, suitable only for black and white, of a person trapped in their residence in what was once a nice neighborhood, while criminals riot just beyond their door. Their only connection to the outside world, and subsequently salvation, is the thin thread of the telephone line.

There are lighter visions present in Holiday in Dirt. "Garage Band 69" is an ode to those childhood days when we all were going to be the next Jimi Hendrix. As long as we were within the confines of our parent's garage in the old neighborhood hammering out those one or two songs that our band "does really well," hell, we might as well have already been the next Hendrix. Lord knows, that was as close as most of us ever got. Ridgway captures this atmosphere perfectly, all the way down to the torn speaker in the amplifier.

As for quoting lyrics or telling all of the story lines in this review, I am not going to do it. Because, as with any good movie or novel, I don't want to give away too much of the plot. If you want to know the ending to the story, you will just have to listen for yourself.

By now, though, many of you are probably wondering when I am going to address the musical content of this album. Well, wonder no more. For Holiday in Dirt, Ridgway has scored some primo tracks, each perfectly suited to the mood of the story it sets. There are elements of pop, rock, jazz, folk and country all present in that brand of electronica that is Ridgway's trademark. It is such a musical smorgasbord, in fact, that a tune like "Brand New Special and Unique" could easily find airtime on your local public broadcasting jazz program, while others such as "Act of Faith" could carve a niche on the station that features Americana music. In fact, it would almost seem the reason that modern radio is mysteriously devoid of Ridgway's music is that he encompasses nearly all of the available formats seamlessly.

At this point it would seem almost fitting to insert a trailer similar to those studio trailers of the 1940's and 50's. Hopefully though, your curiosity is sufficiently piqued by now, and all that is left for you to do is make your way over to www.stanridgway.com or to www.newwestrecords.com to find out more about Ridgway and how to procure your copy of Holiday in Dirt, where quite possibly you may find at least some of the score to the soundtrack of your life. I know that I have.

You can contact Scott Snidow at: scott-at-rockzilla.net

 
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