Artist: Robert Ellis
Album: Robert Ellis
Bitrate: 235kbps avg
Quality: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.98.4 / -V0 / 44.100Khz
Label: New West
Genre: Country
Size: 79.54 megs
PlayTime: 0h 45min 03sec total
Rip Date: 2016-07-02
Store Date: 2016-06-02
Track List:
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01. Perfect Strangers 3:30
02. How I Love You 3:12
03. California 3:50
04. Amanda Jane 5:19
05. Driving 2:46
06. The High Road 3:36
07. Elephant 4:09
08. You're Not The One 5:03
09. Screw 3:42
10. Couples Skate 3:45
11. It's Not OK 6:11
Release Notes:
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Robert Ellis' fine Lights from the Chemical Plant features "Tour Song" as its
closer. The sparsely orchestrated track confesses to paranoia and fear while
he's on the road. He speculates about possible infidelity from his wife. That
story gets fleshed out on Robert Ellis. It's a divorce record that meditates on
themes of infidelity, existential pain, accountability, desire, conflict, loss,
acceptance, and the marrow-deep restlessness in his own life that drives them
all. Ellis produced the date at Sugar Hill Studios in his hometown of Houston,
Texas, the city that begat Mickey Newbury, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Rodney
Crowell, and Robert Earl Keen (all mavericks who challenged convention). His
lyrics are often nakedly confessional and are framed in melodies and
arrangements that embrace the kind of sophisticated pop songwriting pioneered by
Randy Newman, Danny O'Keefe, Newbury, and Charlie Rich without leaving roots
music behind. Even the two songs he didn't write, Matthew Vasquez's "How I Love
You," and guitarist Kelly Doyle's "Screw"-- feel all of a piece. In "Perfect
Strangers" he reflects on what brings lovers together and what ultimately
alienates them from each other. The intricate, savvy chart suggests a production
aesthetic influenced by Chet Atkins, Owen Bradley, Roy Halee, and Ben Mink.
Conversely, "Drivin'" is a super picker's delight, steeped in honky tonk and
bluegrass, complete with brushed snares, tom-toms, and Dobro. In the first
person he expresses impotent frustration: he's unable to coexist in the same
space as his estranged other, but has nowhere else to go. In "California," Ellis
skillfully blends a jazz guitar vamp with a Rhodes piano in classic AOR musical
vernacular. His protagonist is a woman after a broken relationship, who finds
herself rootless while packing her belongings in an empty house. She recalls the
fights, its bitter end, and the possibilities of a new life. "The High Road" is
introduced in a minor key through an uneasy balance of tense strings and
nylon-string guitar. The words reach into Van Zandt's grab bag of economical
tough drama, but the music is framed in the stark baroque country Willie Nelson
offered on the conceptual Phases and Stages (another divorce record). Ellis
admits he's tired of pretending to play fair, not because it's wrong, but
because it doesn't work. The shimmering bossa rhythms under "Amanda Jane" may
not suggest Houston, but a close listen to the melody unmasks Clark's massive
influence. Set closer "It's Not Ok" explains the reason Ellis is a jealous man:
it's a confession of his own cheating. He knows it's wrong, feels doomed to
repeat himself, but doesn't -- or can't -- care. He's swept away by his feelings
for another woman. This track is a collision of modern country, Americana, pop,
and guitar heroics, with 21st century production. It brings Robert Ellis to an
unsettling, dissonant, beautiful close. The artist makes a convincing argument
here that he too belongs in Houston's pantheon.