Starstruck in the Presence of Lee Kerslake: Jason Isbell

Monday 17 June 2024

Jason Isbell

18th November 2022

Manchester O2 Academy

Despite being a huge Isbell fan, I do find myself wondering from time to time, just what the blue-eyed boy of Americana has to do to get a negative album review. For, despite being in my opinion (obviously) the man's weakest release since his self-titled album from 2009, his latest effort Reunions was given a "universal acclaim" rating on Metacritic, and reached Number One in each of the US Billboard Country, Rock and Folk charts.

Not bad for an album with just two top-drawer songs: Only Children and Overseas. The rest of the collection ranging from fun on a good day (Be Afraid) to downright mawkish (Letting You Go).

The collection opens with Isbell in self-questioning mode with What Have I done to Help. The song has a light soul feel to it, reminding me at times of Marvin Gaye's What's Goin' On period, but musically it goes nowhere of any real interest, despite Isbell introducing slide guitar into the outro to attempt to beef the thing up. Lyrically, it just sounds lazy - a fine title, which Isbell fails to extrapolate. Indeed he asks himself the question a total of 56 times (I counted!) before the song dribbles to an unsatisfactory close.

Dreamsicle, a song about family breakup seen from a young teenager's point of view, is pleasant enough but fails really to touch the emotional spots it sets out to do.

Only Children, by contrast, in an absolute masterpiece pushing all the correct buttons. The lyric is a touch ambiguous perhaps, but I read it as about a pair of female besties who grew up in a small town. One left town to become a successful something (I think Isbell uses astronaut as a general metaphor here), whilst the other stayed home to die early. The latter is returning home to attend the funeral of her childhood friend, recalling their times together. The line

" 'Heaven's wasted on the dead'

That's what your mamma said

When the hearse was idling in the parking lot"

can effortlessly me make me tearfully well-up, should I let my defences down when listening to the song.

Overseas which follows, is a Neil Young inspired geetar fest, written, I assume when Isbell was off touring and missing his wife and family. Musically is a real ensemble tour-de force, the guitar soaring over Jimbo Hart and Chad Gamble's rythmn work. My sole gripe with this is that Isbell's solo midway through really is about a quarter of an hour too short.

Thereafter, regretfully, the album plunges into mediocrity and I feel the likes of Running With Our Eyes Closed, River and St. Peter's Autograph would each have undoubtedly found their way into the outtake bin during previous album sessions.

Be Afraid, I would give grudging pass marks to for those sinister (minor key?) verses, but the "Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid" chorus refrain just irks. It is perhaps because I am old enough to remember the Eighties Cronenberg horror movie The Fly, which used that very same phrase in its ads.

The song seems to obliquely reference addiction, a topic more overtly covered in It Gets Easier. But again this song seems weighed down with cliche: "It gets easier, but it never gets easy".

On his previous album Isbell wrote a song to his young daughter (Something to Love) which successfully managed to stay just the right side of mawkish sentimentally. Regretfully, Letting You Go, which recycles the same sentiments as the above just lays on the sickly syrup just a touch too heavily. Any new parent listening to it may lap it up, but for the rest of us our toes curl up cringing listening to the lyrics.

No visit to Caledonia on the UK leg of the tour supporting the album, so it was down to Manchester for me to catch the man. The support act was His Lordship, who initially came across as a fun, if rather pedestrian, trio of rock 'n' rollers. But then towards the end of their short set, the drummer stepped out from behing his kit, picked up a megaphone and began stomping around the stage like a demented Basil Fawlty. Bizarre.

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, performed their usual professional and entertaining set. I do rather like the fact Isbell shuffles the setlist around night after night, keeping all the boys on their toes.

However it did mean we missed out on the band's cover of Fleetwood Mac's Oh Well; a delight the folks on the Dublin and London stops on the tour were treated to.

Oh Well.