Steve Wynn & The Miracle 3
... Tick... Tick... Tick

I have already written countless times on Debaser about my visceral love for Steve Wynn, which I've felt for decades; I consider his Music a lifeline, a solid assurance. I regard the Californian singer-songwriter as an older brother who always manages to give me emotions; just as happens with this album of his released in 2005.

With his young adventure companions, those Miracle 3 who brought Steve very close to his best years lived with Dream Syndicate, he returns to Tucson, Arizona, where he produces the album with the help of his partner and drummer Linda Pitmon. A highly acidic, ultra-psychedelic work where once again those rough and "pulled" sounds of the two dominant guitars abound; particularly the powerful one, played full on and put in the hands of a thirsty and possessed Jason Victor who seems to have grown up on bread and Television.

The cover says it all: that chili pepper wants to indicate the raw and acidic spiciness of a sound ready to explode in many of the tracks contained in the album. Like a time bomb with a timer about to reach zero hour, the hour of the final detonation ...tick...tick...tick...indeed!!!

There are no novelties in the work: good Steve's detractors are advised to look elsewhere. But why do we have to constantly try to reinvent ourselves, to find new musical paths as I read in some reviews at the time of the album's release! Where is it written for heaven's sake?!? Steve couldn't care less about the pretentious and inappropriate criticisms and continues to produce excellent albums, very old school and played with a rage that would make many young beginners envious.

But let's put aside the polemical tones and return to the album, which opens furiously with the barely two minutes of "Wired," where Steve sings quite disorderly through a megaphone. Right from the start, as I mentioned at the beginning of the review, the two guitars dictate vertiginous patterns, full of contagious electricity; it continues with the Dylan-esque "Cindy, It Was Always You" which makes use of a harmonica sound that inevitably takes us back to the sixties and seventies. It's my favorite track, "Freak Star," where a certain Neil Young is honored: I listen to the track directly, trying to find the right words to describe the next five minutes. But I find it very complicated, so just one word is enough for me: masterpiece, personally one of the most beautiful tracks written by Steve in his long post-Syndicate career.

After the languid notes of this harmonious electric ballad, we return to hit hard with "Killing Me," where, even, in some sulfurous moments it seems like entering the rugged Noise world so dear to a certain Page Hamilton and his Helmet. An unforgettable blow with a thunderous work behind the drums by Linda, who must have broken some drumsticks during the recordings. The seven minutes of a sweet and enchanted "The Deep End" conclude the first five tracks which I wanted to mention, all so deserving. Discover the rest for yourselves...NO TOMORROW...

A work worthy of top grades: it seems too obvious to add.

You are a great big brother, Steve.

Ad Maiora.