Blackberry Smoke
Find a Light

Introduction:

Nothing... these five bearded guys from Georgia continue to be tremendously good, without hesitation or inspiratory wear even in this sixth album. Which, needless to say, sounds straightforward, sincere, passionate, honest, dedicated, balanced, in a word magnificent like and more than the previous ones. They are further shaking up my personal vision/ranking of southern rock excellences, which so far had elevated them to third place overall (after Atlanta Rhythm Section and 38 Special) but now I'm not so sure... the 38 risk slipping down a spot.

Context:

So we have reached the sixth studio episode of a career that initially struggled and was underestimated, then finally soared with the third album of 2012 “The Whippoorwill”. Yet another successful musical story that crowns the commitment, energy, perseverance, and confidence with which talent and inspiration have been applied by these artists. The first two albums were actually excellent from the start, but the difficulties of accessing the big circuit for these highly dated, yet exquisite, music required years and years of relentless effort, concert after concert. A continuous and exhausting tour de force that first led to a local following, then national, and now, finally, worldwide.

With the Allman Brothers gone, the Skynyrds tough but stereotypical and not very inspired for a lifetime, and ZZ Top not very productive even if still rolling, now Blackberry Smoke is undoubtedly the leading group in southern rock. For some time, they have been pumping out records at the pace of one every year and a half and continue relentlessly to bust their butts, reaching everywhere (even in Italy, once a year) to lay their Persian carpets on the stage, place their ancient Orange amplifiers on top, plug in their instruments, and play for two or three hours.

The record was released in February of this year, with the previous works being from 2016, 2015, 2012, 2009, and, far behind, the debut of 2004. As usual, the cover is by drummer Brit Turner who, despite his hairy, rugged, bearded, and muscular appearance and the considerable blows he casually deals to his cymbals and drums, evidently has a naïve, romantic... pastel soul. After birds and donkeys, this time it's the turn of wolves and rattlesnakes to be depicted. Very southern.

Strengths and Shortcomings:

The primary strength of the Smoke coincides with the dominating figure of the quintet: Charlie Starr composes almost everything, sings almost everything, his guitars take the solo in most cases, and surely the frontman has a fundamental say even in the production phase. The voice is beautiful, expressive, and the guitar work is skillful, precise, sober, and at the same time passionate. Grace and grit travel together up and down the keyboard, whatever method is applied to it, be it traditional or "slide" with open tuning. I admire him!

But the companions don't just watch and help him greatly, cohesive and united, intense and disciplined. It's the American way of making rock, less theatrical and unpredictable than the English one, more supported and orchestral... fewer prima donnas and more feeling. So, there are rich and "collective" arrangements, widespread minimalism in solo and counterpoint interventions, solid grooves and maximum attention to flavor the music with some unusual chord, some surprising inversion.

Regarding possible shortcomings, I find basically only one: even this time you can delight in listening to excellent and savory American country rock blues, but you cannot scream masterpiece. We are once again a step from heaven, but not at the optimum. Their now congenital flaw is that of making records always with five or six excellent songs accompanied by three or four just good ones and just a couple of fillers. This makes their albums very interesting but not unmissable, lovable but not essential, reference points but not milestones.

Now fourteen years after their recording debut, the desire is as alive as ever, for those who love them deeply as I do, that they finally manage to give birth to a couple of epochal, devastating, perfect episodes, and it doesn't matter if they do it through an irresistible melody, or an imperial riff, or through a sulfuric instrumental jam of those so frequent in this musical genre. In short, their “Sweet Home Alabama” is still missing, that is “Midnight Rider” or “Green Grass & High Tides” to stay in the genre; an episode that takes no prisoners and reaches everyone, not just the insiders, that is filled with an irresistible harmonic turn, or a sparkling intertwining of the instruments, or a disarming singing and lyrics, or maybe all four things together. Yes, Blackberry still lacks and always lacks composing and recording the signature song, the one that transcends all genre subcategories and fits unequivocally into the great cauldron of the immortal super songs of rock. For now, they have dozens of (only) amazing ones.

Album Highlights:

The strong pieces of the work start immediately with the initial “Flesh and Bone”, which curiously starts with a fade-in and immediately decides on a rather harsh and pointed mood (by the band's standards), through a pulsing and obsessive bass, some crooked chord in the chorus, Starr's incredibly creamy and Zeppelin-esque Gibson in the short solo.

“The Crooked Kind” has the group's two guitars working in distinctly complementary rhythm, a’la Rolling Stones. The chorus in the refrain is disorienting, with a daring half-tone slip between minor and major mode, a well-used but always valid method to create uncertainty and thus interest.

“I’ve Got to This Song” would make the old Eagles envious. You can almost hear it, sung by Glenn Frey… There’s also a mournful violin (guest the fellow citizen Levi Lowrey) and a resonant steel guitar (as usual Starr) to underline the calm and romantic sway of the piece. Country rock at a hundred and ten percent, done with class.

The fast and varied “I’ll Keep Ramblin” immediately sets a tight two-four on which the guitars harmonize in a long, dragging riff. The song then opens up in the choruses, after the second of which it deviates into a sparkling gospel phase with mostly black backing singers traveling in call and response with a feisty Starr. The same black voices surround the lead guitar in the long final jubilee, swollen with Hammond organ.

“Seem so Far” is another masterful country rock, guided by acoustic guitar chimes and interesting especially in the very lyrical coda with an unexpected harmonic turn.

“Mother Mountain”, again acoustic, is the exquisite closing number. Three-part vocal harmony throughout, prominent strumming, a relaxed farewell atmosphere, complete with final sounds of a fire under the stars.

The Others:

“Run Away from It All” is intense but without obvious surprises and makes it clear, placed as it is second after the already robust and monolithic start mentioned above, that this Blackberry work wants to be a little more hard than the usual average.

“Medicate My Mind” is a semi-acoustic country rock successful in the verses, predictable in the chorus, superb in the middle instrumental section all in offbeat, fun and enticing.

The resonant “Best Seat in the House” is rather linear and “commercial”, airy but predictable except for some rhythmic back-and-forth of the guitars. It somewhat reminds of some of the late Tom Petty's things.

“Lord Strike Me Dead” is not particularly inspired. This time the electric piano leads the dance, surely it was composed by keyboardist Brandon Still. The chorus filled with the usual backing singers doesn’t lift it much.

The acoustic “Let Me Down Easy” resembles a thousand other American ballads that have Woody Guthrie as their grandfather, Bob Dylan as their uncle, and Gram Parsons as their father.

“Nobody Gives a Damn” is very Lynyrd, the little rock'n'roll piano dances liquid and agile, fitting into all the pauses of the voice. Starr here raises it quite a bit and tries to shout a little, with no problems.

“Till the Wheels Fall Off” is very lyrical and choral. Of class is the harmony trick of the two guitars in the, as usual, short and measured instrumental section.

Final Judgment:

Perhaps their best number for now. Affirmed by someone who (to quote once again the declared sacred monsters of the genre) has never been overly impressed by the still respectable Allmans and considers “Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd” and “Sweet Home Alabama” no less than masterpieces, but everything else by Lynyrd not so much. Blackberry Smoke is better, with the only inevitable "flaw" that they came after, thirty years later.

So what? Rock is dead, in the sense that it has completely stopped evolving (more in the sense of evolving since the seventies...). What rock circulates now, apart from the still many, old farts who more or less dignifiedly self-cover around and in some skimpy album, getting the last (deserved) applause, has its excellences precisely in projects like that of Blackberry Smoke: zero point zero originality but so much heart, gratitude, attention, respect, joy of playing.

I clap my hands with them: four and a half stars for umpteenth time, with the hope that sooner or later they reach my personal full five stars.