Album Review by EDF
Starting with the sound of a needle being placed on a cracking vinyl record, what follows next is a performance that sounds like Grossman and his backing band have been performing together for a while now. Sounding like Stan Ridgeway who had crossed over to the wrong side of the tracks, we are treated to a slice of life that most people would not admit to.
For most of the album, this was recorded live on the road with most of the tracks recorded during rehearsals or later at the actual gig. WALKING ON WINDOWS is about fitting in with the sort of people who sit at bars talking about revenge and looking after your lot in life. DENNY’S is a catalogue of bad luck topped up being drunk and ordering a meal at the restaurant. TOO LATE TOO MUCH TOO MANY starts off with a slow bassline reminiscent of The Stranglers and ending with a fantastic blues guitar solo. BILLY TAKE THE LONG WAY starts off with Grossman explaining to the audience that the song is about a guy who gets a warrant for his arrest and you can feel the audience staring back blankly at him.
The interesting concept about this release is that this is a CD with two half’s. The first set of songs, which are mentioned above, is entitled “in bars”. The second set is entitled “behind bars” and we start off the set with the country sounding WAITING FOR THE YARD. A humorous tale of how you look forward to interacting with the rest of the prisoners at the yard and how everybody is innocent because they all claim they were framed.
The interesting thing about these songs is how truthful and real these lyrics feel. This comes mainly from the fact that David Grossman had written these songs while serving time in jail. In fact, most of his backing band have either been arrested or served time. I personally would not let this fact put me off this album as the performance and the songs are brilliant. Anybody who appreciates good storytelling songs should check this album out.
