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Elly Roberts reviews
One Little Indian
- January 2008
- Rating: 10/10+
Reflective + confessional + emotive + imaginative + poetic = masterpiece.
It may sound profound, but this is THE most beautiful album Ive ever heard,despite its sad overtones.
Let me introduce you to Songdog‘s A Wretched Sinners Song. Songdogis the brainchild of Welshman Lyndon Morgans, long-time relocated to London. Thisis the bands fourth album following 2005’s critically-acclaimed The TimeOf Summer Lightning, and from all accounts, their best to date. To my ears,musically, it rings of Mike Scotts Waterboys late period.
The quality of songs is quite breathtaking, provided by Morgans (vocals/acoustic guitar),Welshman Karl Woodward (electric guitar/keys/harmonica/banjo/mandolin) andDundees Dave Paterson (accordion/drums/tables/keys) and others. Its not a popalbum per se, but one that could be considered a musos album. I suggest doing afew rotations initially, to enjoy the mournfully-tinged tunes. Then get stuckinto the poetry in motion. Youll be back for more, guaranteed.
For the record, Morgans biog cites a love of literature: a playwright andSamuel Beckett obsessive, which probably accounts for this wordy collection spanning27 tracks under Act 1: Love Lust and Act 2: Love Lost. Because of the two acts,it does smack of musical theatre or concept album.
In a nutshell, its about drifters, drunks, psychotics, sad loners and dreamers.In an exclusive interview, Morgans revealed, “I didnt start with the ideaof any concept in mind, I just wrote the songs over a two-year period and theyjust happened to be about the things I always write about love, lust, betrayal,disappointment, nostalgia, failure and so on, and only after they were recordedand mixed did the idea of Love Lust / Love Lost occur.”
According to Morgans, the characters are composites of people he knows, hasknown, heard or read about, a bit of himself and his imagination. The devil popsup quite a bit too, as youll find out.
It begins with gripping emotional Rubens Tattoo, the story of a mermaid tattoolonging to go to sea. It sucks you in immediately, set to a gypsy-like musicaltemplate. Morgans emotional singing is instantly engaging, making you want toseek out more, which is Crown Of Thorns, a tune hed stored since 10 yearsago. This nifty melancholic ballad is essentially about a guy losing his babeto a rock singer at a gig. He tries to hold her back but, “But she heads forthe back, up by the sound desk somewhere.”
Shes going backstage to meet the band. Jewel in a very large crown is Owls.Satan falls in love with a human, which set in the valleys of South Wales. Thetale unfolds to some Greek-like music, and its breathtaking. Jaunty A PrayerTo Idols, featuring accordion and mandolin, has flashes of French influencestexturising the story of lost love, while Morgans years for his youth.
References include the CD packshot picture of a local pond in his native Blackwoodwhere his girlfriend “swam like a mermaid right round Keepers Pond.”
Opening Love Lost, they give a big nod to Americana. The gorgeousPilgrim Hill bursts to a cool shuffle with reflective lyrics harking backto Morgans favourite things: second-hand book stores, NME, glam rock, dusk,and snow. She Lets Me In By The Back Door is Morgans favourite here.Its a self-mocking song with sweeping strings, acoustic guitar and occasionalpiano – “She saw the picture in my passport, we both laughed at my moustache.”
After Owls, Just Another Night In Limbo comes as the second best song here.Morgans digs deep, touching on a Dylan/Scott vocal. It plods quietly, broken bybursts of harmonica, stick shuffles and Nick Kacals understated double bass.After several attempts over the years, Morgans finally nails one of his earliestsongs Montparnasse, an area on the left-bank of the Seine in Paris,where hes longed to live.
A haunting piano arrangement by Sean Hargreaves adds to the soured visit, afterwhich the lovers split on arriving home.
All in all, A Wretched Sinners Song is a pretty loaded album, with adeep sense of loss. Amongst it, theres also a sense of playfulness, presumably aidedby that little devil on his shoulder.
From start to finish it took two and a half years. Its been worth the wait.
File under: Timeless classic.
A full track listing is available on Amazon via the link above.
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.