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Jay Farrar - Stone, Steel And Bright Lights |
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04 August 2005 |
Jay Farrar Stone, Steel & Bright Lights - (Transmit Sound/Artemis) With the hindsight of now knowing that Jay Farrar has reunited with his Son Volt bandmates with the intention of a new CD in 2005, Stone, Steel & Bright Lights makes a lot of sense. After all, he's mostly drawing from his two solo releases here so a live set might seem a little premature. The validity of such a move lies in what Farrar has done during his solo career, and the musical transition back to Son Volt. Namely, we have the opportunity to hear Farrar's songs in a more stripped down form compared to their experimental nature on Sebastopol and Terroir Blues. The end result is a live CD that not only warrants having, but playing and enjoying over and over. Farrar's place in contemporary music is self-evident with a career that seldom ever faltered for a moment thanks to a strong sense of purpose. After Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt, Farrar found the temptation to experiment irresistible. This lead to the exceptional one-two mentioned earlier. What Stone, Steel & Bright Lights does is remind us that Farrar's music always begins with him at his acoustic guitar and, before the effects come into play, he might invite a few like-minded folk to play along. The like-minded folk here are the band Canyon, who serve as Farrar's backing band here. Recorded at different venues throughout his fall tour of 2003, Farrar's music gets a powerful treatment here, revealing that songs like "Damn Shame" and "Cahokian" aren't mere products of the studio. To say that Farrar "sings it like he means it" sounds like a dumb understatement (it is!), but his delivery here fits that bill. The new "6 String Belief" is one of the finer acoustic tributes to rock and roll you'll ever hear, and "Doesn't Have To Be This Way" (a sound check recording) takes full advantage of what Canyon can bring to the table. Stone, Steel & Bright Lights covers ground from Farrar left alone at the microphone to Canyon's full-on rocking support on songs like "Feel Free" to their more subtle support on songs like the beautiful "Make It Alright". As far as cutting loose and having fun goes, closing with Pink Floyd's "Lucifer Sam" and a burning version of Neil Young's "Like A Hurricane" lets you know that Farrar's got a righteous rock and roll heart. There are some things in rock and roll that you can count on. Needless to say, Jay Farrar's one of them.
8.0
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