Ralph McTell
Sand In Your Shoes

Eclectic, lengthy but never verbose, deep, moving and at times poignant, mature, inspired, in a word splendid; adjectives not at all exaggerated, but rather perfectly fitting for an album like this. After a masterpiece like "You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here" Ralph McTell had not repeated himself on such high levels: excellent albums but always unfinished, always significantly below that masterpiece, such as "Not Till Tomorrow" of 1972 and "Easy" of 1974; time passes and those who cannot adapt to the trends of the moment, who are not able to sell themselves, who keep their back straight are inevitably sucked into the vortex of oblivion. So it happens to the good Ralph, and in 1995 it has been nine years since the previous album of unreleased tracks. "Sand In Your Shoes" will not help him regain the popularity of the "Streets Of London" days, but it is truly an extraordinary return for this great songwriter.

"Sand In Your Shoes" showcases a different Ralph McTell, I would say evolved and improved in every aspect compared to the years of his glorious past: first of all, his voice has significantly improved, not that it wasn't pleasant and well-pitched before, but the years have made it more warm, expressive, and fascinating, and then he is more of a folk singer in the strict sense: "Sand In Your Shoes", characterized by the important and decisive presence of Martin Allcock of the Fairport Convention as producer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist, manages to speak of themes like depression, pollution, outcasts, religion, ethnic cleansing, and the Holocaust while simultaneously exhibiting a truly lush range of styles and sounds, making "Sand In Your Shoes" a very fascinating and immediate album that easily handles the demanding duration of almost seventy minutes. "Tous Les Animaux Sont Tristes" is pop-rock of the highest level, based on a classic acoustic guitar arpeggio strengthened by a nice rhythmic bass and female choirs: it is one of those songs born to captivate at first impact, thanks also to a beautifully catchy francophone chorus; a beautiful potential single, slightly veiled by a slight sense of melancholy, which, if proposed by some more "institutionalized" artist, would have become a successful hit, and it is only the first surprise; followed by a "The Islands" imbued with electronics and Celtic atmospheres, epic and dramatic; in which the faded memory of the Vikings and their ships overlaps with the much more alive and looming threat of environmental catastrophes caused by oil tankers. In "Sand In Your Shoes" Ralph McTell manages to propose various styles with consistently excellent outcomes: a bit of simple and carefree country-pop with "I Don't Think About You", a touch of sly reflectiveness on summer and relaxed rhythms marked by maracas in the title track "Sand In Your Shoes" and carefree Irish-folk atmospheres, with flutes and uilleann pipes in the concluding, serene, and dreamy "An Irish Blessing".

Among the wide range of styles and sounds present in "Sand In Your Shoes", jazz stands out: Ralph McTell perfectly embodies the crooner role in the seductive and bittersweet retro atmosphere of "Daddy's Whistling Home" and especially in a sumptuous "Care In The Community": a masterpiece, an authentic instant classic, six minutes of smoky, elegant, and evocative blues-jazz in which stories of characters on the brink of despair and lost in indifference emerge, but there is also the traditional acoustic folk: the ecstatic "Still In Dreams" is the song that most recalls the old Ralph McTell, especially for its initial arpeggio that closely resembles "Genesis I Verse 20" but what strikes most is the poignant "Jesus Wept": Jesus, in his last days of life, fully aware of what would happen, is struck by despair, and manages to see the future, what would happen after his death: he understands that evil would not be removed from the earth and foresees the Inquisition, "the conversions of the innocents he swore he would protect," the blood that would be shed in his name and what would become of his message, and he also remembers his childhood and his parents: a delicate, moving, and above all wonderfully human portrait. "Peppers And Tomatoes" is instead the most rock episode of the album: a very powerful mid-tempo, full of tension paced by a pounding drum and an insistent bass line and contaminated by Celtic sounds, the lyrics are very explicit and leave no doubt, inspired by the wars in the former Yugoslavia: centuries of peaceful coexistence that suddenly turn into hatred and violence: the important themes that characterize the album are also present in the ballads: the orchestral, majestic "The Enemy Within (The Band)" alludes to the closure of coal mines in England, and the disastrous consequences it would bring, while a more bare, bleak, and dramatic "The Case Of Otto Schwarzkopf", a musical transposition of a poem by the Jewish writer Shmuel Huppert, evokes the still living and threatening ghosts of the Holocaust, ending with an eloquent admonition: "Pray humanity what it cannot see through tears, the cry of yesterday before tomorrow".

Songs like "Tous Les Animaux Sont Tristes", "The Islands", "Care In The Community", "Jesus Wept", "The Enemy Within", "Peppers And Tomatoes" and "The Case Of Otto Schwarzkopf" are those that leave a mark, that strike and manage to enrich the listener from all points of view; seven masterpieces, and considering that the rest of the album is anything but mediocre, the only possible conclusion is to assign top marks to this wonderful album: the masterpiece of a mature musician, inspired and capable of renewal; excellent both for the exquisite stylistic taste and the ability to create beautiful melodies and for the deep sensitivity and commitment demonstrated in songwriting, which is a characteristic that has always distinguished Ralph McTell and that is highlighted especially here, in a much more defining and central way. "Sand In Your Shoes" is an album that deserves to be rediscovered, listened to, and praised with every possible adjective, I can only speak well of a great and underestimated songwriter like Ralph McTell. And this album is his best work together with "You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here", and also his artistic testament.