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Rating:
I think that sometimes even sites like Ondarock can make mistakes. For example, how can one justify the 4.5 rating given to this album? An attack of malice? Superficial listening? I don't know, but I can certainly say that for me, "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" goes beyond adequacy, although it doesn't reach the supreme level of "John Barleycorn Must Die."
One thing must be said: there is a drop in inspiration: in fact, the album succeeds halfway, with three excellent songs and three clearly tired tracks. Moreover, soul jazz takes precedence over folk, with results that are often not too exciting. But if we thoroughly examine the album, we can identify its strengths and weaknesses.
The beginning is wonderful: "Hidden Treasure" recalls the acoustic atmospheres of "John Barleycorn Must Die" (the track), with the energy of "Freedom Rider." The flute dominates the other instruments, the folk-soul guitar is perfect, and the track is one of the most successful on the album. Even the long title track, in the realm of soul, is suggestive. The track, although it gets a bit lost in the chorus, has a fantastic instrumental coda based on two chords. But from this moment, the album declines: "Rock and Roll Stew" attempts the "hard" path, but lacks bite and resembles more a country song (a genre I don't appreciate); while "Many a Mile to Freedom" is a pale imitation of "Empty Pages," cloying and a bit boring (it lasts about 7 minutes). "Light up or Leave Me Alone," on the other hand, just can’t get into my head.
Thankfully, the finale is entrusted to "Rainmaker": tribal rhythm, a nice flute riff, final guitar solo for 7 minutes of great music. In the end, we are certainly not ecstatic, but we don't feel like we've just left a Gigi D'Alessio concert either. In short, it is clear to us that a 4.5 for this album is at least ungenerous, especially if we consider the various 7 ratings given to the latest of Madonna and various trash.
Rating: 7
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Hidden Treasure (04:13)
Take a walk down by, take a walk down by the river
There's a lot that you, there's a lot that you can learn
If you've got a mind that's open, if you've got a heart that yearns
If you listen to, if you listen to the water
You will hear the sound, you will hear the sound of life
There's a million different voices, there is happiness and strife
Message in the deep, from a strange eternal sleep
That is waiting there, that is waiting there for you
Like hidden treasure
03 Rock and Roll Stew (04:21)
Sitting in a transit all night long
Playing clubs and rocking right on
The road's much too long since I've been wasting my time
Wish I was home again sipping my wine
And I'm gone, gone, gone, I don't care
'Cause I'm gone, gone, gone, I don't care
It's where I'm from, I'm on the road again
LA to London is a mighty long time
Eight hours flying can bring you down
Sitting near a suit who's a red-neck going,
Eyes are moving but there's no life showing
Now that I'm home again
Things are much better, biding my time with my little go-getter
No matter what they say, no matter what they do,
Gonna end up in the middle of that rock & roll stew
Gone, gone, gone ...
05 Light Up or Leave Me Alone (04:46)
Sometimes I feel like I'm fading away
You're looking at me, I've got nothing to say
Don't make me angry with the games that you play
Either light up or leave me alone
You walk in my room, you lie in my bed
You open your mouth, shoot someone dead
All of a sudden you're inside my head
Either light up or leave me alone
Spending my bread like it grew on a tree
You're trying to tell me 'bout the birds and the bees
The skirt that you're wearing is way past your knees
Either light up or leave me alone
You're up all night preaching your mind
Come home in the morning with your latest find
I'm gonna have to lay it to you straight on the line
Either light up or leave me alone
06 Rainmaker (07:38)
Rainmaker, rainmaker
The sky is gray just by the touch of your hand
Rainmaker, rainmaker
Make me some rain, make all my crops grow tall
Rainmaker, rainmaker
The sky is gray, the ground is so hard
It's been cracked by the sun
Rainmaker, you know my work's never done
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