Stan Ridgway
Songs That Made This Country Great

Wow, how did I not manage to review at least one album by one of my idols? The great, funny, ironic Stan Ridgway, former leader of the equally great Wall of Voodoo? I'll take care of it right away. I like artists like him, highly underrated, not very present on the radio or in conversations about musical tastes... and yet he has written some beautiful musical chapters, unfortunately alternating them with uninspired moments (at least in my opinion, even if those moments mostly coincide with typically American crooning-folk episodes, which are actually very appreciated in the States...).

Fresh from the voodoo glories (their last epilogue with him, the legendary Call of the West), he will start a solo career, where he will alternate excellent albums with moments of strategic retreat. A good opportunity to get to know him is the now hard-to-find collection "Songs That Made This Country Great". It includes the most famous titles from his first two solo albums (the best, Big Heat and Mosquitos), along with a selection of tracks with the Voodoo and various collaborations (always nice to find a best of that is so complete and satisfactory...). Our hero is quite famous for his distinctive voice, very nasal and deep at the same time, with which he significantly characterized the western-wave ballads of his band. Band, which, it must be said, miraculously combined extremely diverse elements: acidic guitars in full Morricone mood, keyboards more than anything reminiscent of surf atmospheres (Farfisa and Vox organs), splashes of new wave accompanied by excellent percussion work that followed the thread of a rhythm almost always based on the peculiar (and successful) choice of a pre-programmed electronic drum (the legendary RhythmAce...).

With his solo works, Stan slightly, but not too much, moves away from these themes, however introducing very nocturnal pop-dark atmospheres, ideal soundtracks for those settings in small-town America, which he has always favored in his lyrics. "Salesman", a track with a driving rhythm, which I even found myself dancing to in an Ibiza nightclub in '86, albeit the song is not at all danceable. "Lonely Town", a stratospheric, nocturnal ballad, sung by a true crooner, in which Stan's famous harmonica appears. "Drive, She Said", taken from the first album, a nervous rock with a sharp guitar riff. "Don't Box Me In", a very happy collaboration with another musical maverick (Stewart Copeland, legendary) for the film "Rumblefish", "Goin' Southbound", a speed-pop jewel from Mosquitos, epic, with fantastic keyboards, "Ring Of Fire", already made famous with the Wall of Voodoo, "Lost Weekend", another quirky ballad from "Call of the West", "The Big Heat", in short...

Many jewels that follow one after the other. Tracks with nocturnal atmospheres, ideal for accompanying a solitary car ride, alone, or for smoking a cigarette in peace... music that's never vulgar. It concludes with "Walkin' Home Alone", another gem with almost jazzy hints. An artist definitely worth evaluating, except when he takes excessive pauses and drifts towards overly country atmospheres, but when he decides to create music, he does so with undeniably high intelligence and elegance...