ARTiST: David Ford
TiTLE: Songs For The Road
LABEL: Independiente
GENRE: Indie
TiME: 37:18 min
SiZE: 43,10 MB
BiTRATE: VBRkbps
RiP DATE: Aug-13-2007
RELEASE DATE: Oct-01-2007
WEBSiTE: n/a
Track List:
01. Go To Hell 03:29
02. Decimate 03:26
03. I'm Alright Now 04:40
04. Song For The Road 04:46
05. Train 04:05
06. St. Peter 04:56
07. Nobody Tells Me What To Do 03:04
08. Requiem 04:44
09. ... And So You Fell 04:08
Release Notes:
After a successful recent stint supporting Ray
LaMontagne and then the marvelous Suzanne Vega, the
suitably lo-fi, husky-voiced David Ford releases his
second album for our delectation û an effort which
sees him shoehorning himself firmly into that
ever-growing batch of singer-songwriters which
include, well, Ray LaMontagne, James Morrison, David
Gray and the very popular / very unpopular James
Blunt. Ford would rather be compared to Tom Waits,
according to his website, but so far the only
comparison between the mighty Waits and he is the
fact that Ford wears a hat on the front of this
album.
But to the music with us, and Songs For The Road
opens with the deceptively lush, expansively
strings-laden ôGo To Hellö, which, as the title
suggests, is no pushover ballad. Melodic and strong,
this track is a fine opener, depending on which side
your Blunt-esque bread is buttered on, of course.
Ford displays the obligatory cheeky Estuary English
twang in the perky ôDecimateö, before letting things
get maudlin but still melodic in ôIÆm Alright Nowö,
and the faltering voice and piano poetry of ôSong
For The Roadö.
This album is apparently all about the singerÆs
foray into America, and to be fair, it doesnÆt sound
like he had much fun. ôTrainö is slowly majestic and
has a glimmer of hope and determination to it,
complete with harmonica squawking motifs, which, as
we all know, are always a good thing. But the album
takes a downturn again with the indulgence of ôSt
Peterö and ôRequiemö. The Randy Newman-tinged
ôNobody Tells Me What To Doö is musically more
interesting but you canÆt help wishing this serious
young cove would lighten up a tad. At least heÆs got
it all off his chest though û and he has a fair
following of fans who will hang on every angry word.