A great album with deepgoing lyrics - music to tickle your toes, shiver your spine and gladden your heart.
Keep going strong.
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he has come a long way from sitting on the steps of our grandmothers house to being a good man and to see he hone his tallents is a great inspration to us all lisening to this brings back all the fond memorys of child hood jay keep it up you are making the family proud and i know nanna would be very proud too
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Track by track: About Woman Blues - great song but not really indicative of the rest of the album - jay is playing his atypical American country voicing here; Relapse - fantastic sparse arrangement with jays 'natural' voice and just the right amount of harmonica; In Want Of Love - beautiful song with jays natural voice and Jay wearing his heart on his sleeve - I would have liked a 'bridge' after the line 'if we both wanted it'; Fairy Tales - love the melody of this song, chorus is a little cheesy with the 60s 'dig you - dig me' reference; Small Steps - Jay presents his Nick Cave / Johnny Cash voice in the verse and Thom Yorke in the chorus - the song stands well on its own but feels disjointed from the rest of the album despite the 'Home' references; Home - this is the hit on the record and would be the perfect album opener - shows off Jay's natural voice - the song is begging for samples of rain on a tin roof - it just has THAT feel; Oak - this song includes Jay's falsetto at its strongest - would like to hear the song with drums.  I don't think this song should follow 'Home' though; Faith has a great vocal melody but I would like to hear a different, less straight forward guitar arrangement; Bottom Line - Great song - would sit well with 'About Woman Blues' - I reckon this could do with mandolin to fill it out; Ballad of Dechlan - one of the best songs on the record - simple and sweet and showcasing Jay's 'natural' voice - good use of vocal overdubs too - only negs are the way Jay says 'whhhhinnn' when 'win' does the job perfectly well! I also want to hear one more high note at the end of the song - I felt left hanging; Man of Goodwill - Jay's Bob Dylan voice here - the upbeat strummy feel is a contrast to much of the rest of the album; Percussion Honey - love the feel of this song with great guitar sound and the fragile 'ooohs' - the song does not seem long even at 4 minutes; Wind Don't Cry - Jay seems to put on his fragile Dylan voice at first but changes to his natural voice for the chorus - makes me think there might be 2 Jays?... the chorus is great and I want to hear more of these big confident notes; This Time - Great poppy song - wants a 2nd vocal though; The Flood - this is Jays voice at its etheral best and a great closer to the album.  I enjoyed this album but in parts it felt like a 'various artists' album with the different vocalising.  Maybe it should have been a 2 CD set with the folkier slow stuff called 'Slow-down' and the upbeat bluegrass rockier stuff on disc 2 called 'Ho-down'... bad idea? If retained as a single CD my ideal track listing would have been: Home / Relapse / In Want of Love – which goes brilliantly into / Ballad of Dechlan / This Time / Oak / Bottom Line / Falsely Accused / Percussion Honey / The Flood.  Despite my gripes I am thrilled to have all these songs to enjoy! Thanks Jay!
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The songs do link and the tunes, along with the musical instruments, are very enjoyable to listen. Good combination Jay..well done.
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