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Rating: Spain were a true "cult" group in the 90s, mainly due to this album, their 1996 debut.
Josh Haden, bassist and singer as well as the son of the legendary Charlie Haden, crafted an album that sends shivers down your spine, nocturnal and intimate like few others. The beautiful cover is quite eloquent: "The blue moods of Spain" is an album about love and its torments, about sleepless nights spent waiting for the footsteps of a “Belle Dame Sans Merci,” recalling moments from an unhappily ended relationship or reflecting on one's own mistakes.
The band matched the restless moods of the leader, with an extremely skeletal sound, aimed at highlighting the poetic nature of the message, halfway between a certain easy listening jazz and atmospheres reminiscent of Lou Reed’s “Songs for Drella.” Enlightening examples are the majestic suite "World of blue" – enhanced by Petra Haden's violin – or the enticing "Ray of light." Sickly settings, with music in the background slicing through the smoke of a club, in search of an impossible answer.
Elsewhere, some soft ballads reminiscent of the "third album of Velvet Underground" like "Ten nights," "Dreaming of love," and "Her used-to-been" enchant with sweetness and flair, emphasizing the delicate guitar weavings and Haden's voice: certainly not particularly remarkable technically, but authentic and full of vivid lyricism.
The pinnacle of the record is certainly the concluding "Spiritual," the piece that gave Haden and his bandmates a certain notoriety (Johnny Cash and even the Red Hot Chili Peppers covered it). An impressive ballad, heartrending like certain works of the best Tindersticks and an inspired Haden who declaims "Jesus I don’t want to die alone/ My love was untrue/Now All I have is you."
Ultimately, “The blue moods of Spain” is a work whose rediscovery is highly recommended. Nothing innovative or revolutionary: a "classic" alternative to the albums of Portishead or Mark Lanegan for certain heartrending evenings, lost among alcohol, smoke, and chimeras.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
03 Dreaming of Love (05:34)
Lost my way, it's alright
Lost my way, it's alright
I've been dreaming of love
And we're so close
And we're so near
Oh when we touch
Oh we disappear
Lost my way, I don't care
Lost my way, I don't care
I've been dreaming of love
And we're so close
And we're so near
Oh when we touch
Oh we disappear
Oh we're so close
Oh we're so near
Oh when we touch
Oh we disappear
Oh we're so close
Oh we're so near
Oh when we touch
Oh we disappear
04 Untitled #1 (06:38)
Walked away
Released from all my crimes
Walked away
Released from all my crimes
But I could never hide
What I kept inside
Walked away
Released from all my sins
Walked away
Released from all my sins
But the cruelest thing
Was all my suffering
When I held you that night
I knew it felt so right
I knew it felt so right
Walked away
Released from all my crimes
Walked away
Released from all my crimes
But I could never hide
What I kept inside
09 Spiritual (06:36)
Jesus I don't want to die Alone Jesus Oh Jesus I don't want to die Alone My love wasn't true Now all I have is you Jesus Oh Jesus I don't want to die Alone Jesus If you hear My last breath Don't leave me here Left to die a lonely death I know I have sinned But lord I'm suffering Jesus Oh Jesus If you hear My last breath Repeat 1st verse Jesus Jesus All my troubles All my pain Will leave me Once again X3 Once again
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