Ray Lamontagne: Gossip In The Grain

DVDfever.co.uk – Simply Red: 25 The Greatest Hits CD reviewElly Roberts reviews

Ray Lamontagne: Gossip In The GrainDistributed by
14th Floor Records

• Released: October 2008
• Rating: 8/10
• Vote and comment on this album:View Comments

---

Shy guy returns – a bit happier?

On the back of 2007’s stunning ‘Till The Sun Turns Black comes Ray Lamontagne’s third offering. On Gossip In The Grain you get the feeling old Ray’s actually spent more time outta the woods.

Grizzly Ray occasionally lifts the gloom, but don’t expect too much now.

From the CD packshot image, Ray is obviously still uncomfortable with his new found fame, consolidated by his gig at Manchester’s Apollo theatre in November 2007, where he spent most of the time in the dark, away from the spotlight, singing in profile, occasionally shoe-gazing and at the band.

---

Anyway, he’s definitely not reserved in revealing his world through his beautiful music. ‘Till ..was, in my opinion, a masterpiece, so how do you follow that? Well, Trouble and ‘Til ..builds significantly on both.

This opens brightly (yes brightly) with what can only be described as love song to his missus – You Are The Best Thing. This not just any old love song : it’s undeniably a tribute to the ol’ lady in the wooden shack on his farm near Maine . Then as we’ve come to expect, he wanders off on a sublime ballad – Let It Be Me – with that husky cavernous voice at its dazzling best, clearly targeted at lovers in the world, especially the ladieeees, whereas perky little Sarah is more on the commercial Americana shelf with some cute banjo and shifting strings.

On torch song I Still Care For You he’s successfully managed to curb his mesmerising rasp for a gentler and more cultured tone. This haunting stuff indeed combining subtle elements of trad British folk. Winter Birds is an observational piece about the desolation and isolation of winter on his home patch,and the reason it works beautifully, is down to its stripped back simplicity – man and voice is perfect union, which is destined to a crowd favourite, as if he hasn’t got enough at his disposal already.

Adopting a Spaghetti Western template, initially, he pounds out a bouncy rocker in tribute to, of all people, Meg White of the White Stripes. Even the drumming emulates Meg’s child-like style – bash bash bash. Juxtaposing this, he goes for a more country approach (with some sizzling New Orleans jazzy breaks – trumpet, clarinet and pick-fast banjo) on the delightful Hey Me, Hey Mama, maybe a reference to his ever moving mum, when he was a child.

If there’s a weak spot it’s the country-blues shuffle of Henry Nerly….sounding like a confused Ozark Mountain Devils / Led Zeppelin hybrid. With the use of some honeyed pedal steel, he’s back on more familiar and effective form for A Falling Though, a stunning ballad. After 30 seconds in of sound effects, the title track unfolds as a semi-sombre ballad, which isn’t his best work covering all three albums.

---

So, yes, there are some divine moments, but it’s not quite as engaging as its predecessor.

Until Gossip In The Grain, Lamontagne was barely known in the States, where it’s reached #3 on the Billboard Charts.

File under: Not bad for an ex-shoe factory worker eh?

Weblink:raylamontagne.com

---

The full list of tracks included are :

1. You Are The Best Thing
2. Let It Be Me
3. Sarah
4. I Still Care For You
5. Winter Birds
6. Meg White
7. Hey me, Hey Mama
8. Henry Nearly Killed Me
9. It’s A Shame
10. A Falling Through
11. Gossip In The GrainView the discussion thread.blog comments powered by Disqus= 0) {query += ‘url’ + i + ‘=’ + encodeURIComponent(links[i].href) + ‘&’;}}document.write(”);})();//]]]]>]]>

[Up to the top of this page]