ALBUM REVIEW: SUSANNAH CLEGG - GOOD TIMES ARE COMING OUR WAY
In these days of artists being foisted on you with slick media campaigns, it is refreshing report on the rise of Susannah Clegg, who seems to have done it the old fashioned way, bowling people over with stunning live performances that naturally initiate a word of mouth effect. The campaign to to help fund this album met its target within days, such is the faith of her fans and their determination to hear more from her, the results are here on her debut album "Good Times Are Coming Our Way".
On paper it should not work, a young lady from Lancaster, singing predominantly sad songs, in a style of music, that would normally be considered bygone, apart from the American deep south and yet here we are, with a compelling collection of songs, sung in an American, occasionally impenetrable, drawl, yet sounding fresher than ever.
The initial single was "Prospect Street", inspired by a thoroughfare in her home town. The real Prospect Street, is a modest distance from the Infirmary, to keep the old time theme going. It runs parallel to Hope Street - all good names to inspire a songwriter, however if all this talk of Hope & Prospect has you expecting an upbeat outlook on future happy times then you really need to prepare yourself for we are entering Susannah's domain where any sliver of good luck or hope, inevitably comes with lashings of bad!
The opening is pure classic country, a solid guitar intro followed by the arrival of a fiddle. Susannah is able to ooze bleakness and as the songs narrator she soon counteracts the optimism of the streets name with her own tale of woe.
"I walked down this road, a hundred times or more
If these stones could speak of hurting, they'd just weep
Now there stands a house, where once there was a home
Now there's nothing to be found on Prospect Street"
Susannah goes on to describe the person at the root of the problem, whose actions have left her so bereft.
"His hair of copper, his heart of gold
Her ring of silver, has turned my heart to stone" the final word stretched to its limits bringing us to the chorus
"My lover now he's gone,
He left me all alone
Now there's nothing left but heartache
To be found on Prospect Street"
There is a stunning simplicity to just letting good players play, and the bass, fiddle guitar combo are a delight on the instrumental break.
"He had never said he was not mine to claim
and his words went to my head like something sweet
Now loneliness is the only address that I have to my name
Now you won't find me here on Prospect Street"
The final take on the chorus, give a suggestion of the vocal power that Susannah brings to her live performances, it threatens to break out of the speakers it is so powerful, it perfectly sets the scene for what is to follow.
With a second track entitled "Put Me In My Grave", Susannah plays with expectations for despite the title, it's actually a sweet love song, albeit one taken to extremes. That is how you can feel though if you've experienced "Love at first sight", which is beautifully and wittily captured in the opening verse
It must have been fate, a glance so fleeting
Not one I expected I'll confess
I'm doing okay, my hearts still beating
It's just that it's no longer in my chest!"
Such powerful feelings though do run risks if not reciprocated
"But if you can't tell me, you feel the same
You might as well just put me in my grave"
It's deliciously over the top, and sung firmly with tongue in cheek.
The playing is exemplary, highlighted by the space each instrument is given to operate in and the lack of any unnecessary clutter. Susannah's singing especially in the closing stages seems to know no limits.
One unlikely influence bringing his literary weight to bear on this record is Thomas Hardy, most obviously an inspiration for the third track "Tess", yet his storytelling techniques ripple much further into Susannah's lyrics where seemingly happy folk can have their lives transformed in the blink of an eye.
"Tess" opens to the just an acoustic guitar and occasional bass, before we hit an opening verse that would grace any novel, four simple lines carry so much narrative, painting the loss of childlike innocence in a most brutal way.
"I don’t ever think about the man that’s done me wrong
The time for foolish butterflies and summer wine is gone
Maybe I was naive but I know I was not warned
That men like him are weak as they are strong"
There's a quality in Susannah's voice that really brings these lyrics to life, the choruses on each visit are progressively heartbreaking in this five minute epic.
"I used to think an angel, would save my soul or make me whole again"
"I used to think an angel, would save my soul
There's no-one who'll take pity in this whole world
On the girl I used to be"
"If my soul needs saving then God knows
I don't need the pity of men
I'm not that girl any more"
The albums title track gives us a further masterpiece stretching over six and a half minutes, were it possible it would no doubt come out in hardback rather than as an album track. The title "Good Times Are Coming Our Way" is a complete misnomer, it is the optimistic belief that things cannot get worse and better times lie ahead - however this is a Susannah Clegg song and almost certainly they will not.
Just the sheer poetry of the opening couple of lines, immediately paint such a vivid picture, the sound of the bass adds a gloomy feel before a word has even been uttered.
"I think of you when the nights get so cold
My breath hangs like mist in the air"
This tale is of a young couple with two completely different outlooks, one happy to be with her man no matter what, the other wanting the best for his girl.
"All that we had was enough for me then, but darling I hadn't your pride"
There's an ominous warning planted by Susannah early on, her vocals at times on the verses almost dropping to a spoken word, so slowly do the words trickle out.
"I knew the mining was dangerous work
For my brother and father were dead"
yet still her optimism remains undimmed
"But love makes fools of us all when we're young
and I believed each word you said"
The sound of the double bass weighs heavy as the inevitable happens
"Smoke covered half of the mountain that day
The man from the company said
All that they gave was the last of your pay
and a hand written letter that read
Darling, the candle is flickering low
So please let me say while I can
Though I may never have reached twenty one
I lived and I died like a man!"
The whole song leaves such a presence that the few seconds before the next song are a welcome breather to allow the listener to take in what they have just heard - after all not many songs close to the line
"The mountains will become my grave"
The positively jaunty fiddle opening to "Sweet Roses" seems at first to be something to lift us from the trauma of the previous track, however the roses of the title have a somewhat grim end destination.
It relays a somewhat tricky relationship
"Watch your step when there's snow on the ground
I'll never push you, but I'd watch you drown"
and as for those roses
"I'll plant Sweet Roses atop your dirt mound!"
Susannah's ability to lay one low with just an opening line or two never ceases to amaze, "Forgetmenot" is another case in question.
"Born with a hole in your heart - where compassion should've been!"
It's a tale of another wronged woman, who despite everything still wants to be remembered by her ex
"Forgetmenot my fickle love
I'm am far from where you are
Our love is strained on better days
But still I say forgetmenot"
All of this is encompassed in around the sweetest ensemble playing you could ever imagine.
"Caroline" if we recall Susannah's Country Calling introduction correctly, is about her dog, who incidentally is not called "Caroline" but "Townes" but for the purposes of the song it rhymes better.
"Caroline Caroline, I can see you in my mind
I've been staring out the window watching as my life pass by
I been out in the light, I've been biding my time
But as long as you are mine, I'll keep on coming home to you"
"Colorado" is another sweeping four minute epic, with its guitar refrain echoed by the bass and fiddle. Lyrically it begins more like the opening to a grand Booker Prize winning novel than an americana tune.
"Lately I have found myself
Considering my name
And drawing my conclusions from the hip
The unmannerly collusion
Between my ego and my shame
Is surely gonna sink this rocket ship"
The chorus finds the narrator hoping that a return to a previous home will bring some sort of solace, equally knowing that it might bring just the opposite.
"If I get back to Colorado
Is an unrelenting flow
Of broken memories all I’ll find?
Or if I get back to Colorado
Will that rocky mountain grant me peace of mind?
The answer to what has got the narrator into such a funk is covered in the second verse, and naturally it relates to affairs of the heart.
"Lately I have found myself to be a fool for love
Although I have been scared to break the rules
But honesty and innocence alone are not enough
It’s all about the phrasing that you choose"
The mournful fiddle and wonderfully plucked bass give such depth to the overall sound, to the point you can almost feel the boom of each note. As Susannah's vocals take the chorus for the final time, just savour the elongation of "Colorado". It is also clear that the she hopes the "Peace of mind" option wins out with an exquisite final delivery.
The most rocking track is the furiously paced "Last To Know Blues", the tale of a wronged partner. As a single it came with a cover picture of Susannah smiling and it is worth pointing out that Susannah's shows do come with a large degree of humour between the episodes of woe!
This is Susannah Clegg revving on full throttle, with both the playing and delivery hitting maximum speed, indeed the first twenty seconds are just the band reaching optimal take off speed.
"The way you've been cheating me has me feeling perplexed
You've been misleading cheating me, neglecting all the rest
Need all those other girls to keep you satisfied
You can go blame yourself for the tears that I cried"
Thee lyrics are littered with the humiliation of waking up to find his pillow cold, knowing that he has been "getting your kicks on the other side of town". The uptempo speed of the playing, and Susannah's running of one line into another does make it slightly lyrically to decypher however, it is clear that this relationship is unfairly balanced.
"I need you tell me how I make you feel, am I the one you love?
If our estrangements work, you'll have to choose
Leave me to my Last To Know Blues"
Within its short duration it also manages to squeeze in solo's for guitar, fiddle and double bass, which may explain why Susannah fires off the lyrics with such gusto.
Those hoping for an upbeat finish will be disappointed as the album closes to "Let In The Night", a five minute murder ballad! Opening seemingly in slow motion to a gently strummed guitar, after the pace of the previous track, Susannah immediately places us in the middle of the action, and it is dramatic, even if we have no idea who is talking to who, though the we know at least one is on the run.
"Open the window and let in the night
I'll be leaving tomorrow, you back to your flight
You won't allow me to wrong this right
If they're all still around"
A mournful fiddle and bass join later just to suggest a time and place US history, the lyrics paint a time of wild lawlessness, becoming progressively bleak.
"Who would have thought when it's all said and done
You'd learn the truth from a man on the the run
You wouldn't know what to do with a gun
So lay that pistol down
Those in glass houses sit back and rejoice
But they didn't hear the dissent in your voice
Willing or dead isn't much of a choice
So darling just let in the night
Smoke on the horizon and ash in the air
Save all your quandaries for someone who care
No-one yet told you the world isn't fair
So darling lay down you life
And darling just Let In The Night"
Susannah Clegg has undoubtedly produced a work, of high class storytelling, written in the most literate of ways, that delivers far more than you would ever expect from a set of album lyrics. That it is then matched to the most sympathetic of playing only enhances the overall effect. Quite how far Susannah Clegg can take this sound we've no idea, however it's going to be far if she maintains this current trajectory.
Susannah Clegg will be realising this album with her band in London at 21Soho Below - 7th October -
