ARTiST: Bob Evans
ALBUM: Goodnight, Bull Creek!
BiTRATE: 175kbps avg
QUALiTY: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.97 Final / -V2 --vbr-new / 44.100Khz
LABEL:
GENRE: Rock
SiZE: 50.39 megs
PLAYTiME: 0h 38min 11sec total
RiP DATE: 2009-04-02
STORE DATE: 2009-04-03
Track List:
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01. Someone So Much 3:34
02. Pasha Bulker 3:15
03. Hand Me Downs 3:32
04. Your Love 3:21
05. Wintersong 4:15
06. We're A Mess 3:06
07. Nuthin's Gonna Tear Me Away 3:15
From You
08. Power Of Speech 3:47
09. Brother, O Brother 4:01
10. It's A Beginning 3:22
11. Everything Goes 2:43
Release Notes:
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Strange things happen in Nashville, Tennessee. People forget who they are.
Dreams come true. Fingers get covered in blisters. All of these things happened
to Kevin Mitchell, erstwhile front man of much-loved, Perth indie band Jebediah,
now an ARIA award-winning, singer-songwriter performing under the name Bob
Evans, during the making of his third album, Goodnight, Bull Creek!
Strange things began to happen the minute he arrived.
Mitchell received an email from his Nashville-based producer Brad Jones (who
also produced the last Bob Evans album Suburban Songbook) saying he was ready
for pre-production but first he had to run off and play at a Clash tribute gig,
just Jones and a bunch of gun Nashville musicians playing the entire London
Calling album.
ôHe asked me if I wanted to come along. Before I knew it I was up on stage
singing æClampdownÆ. Then I got back up for an encore - æRock The CasbahÆ.
Confused and jetlagged, that was my first ever gig in Nashville.ö
To make things even more confounding, Mitchell was billed as Bob Evans from
Jebediah. Everyone took his stage moniker to be his real name. ôIt was just too
confusing trying to explain. I was just Bob for the night, singing Clash songs,
and it was really good fun.ö
Bob Evans is the name Mitchell uses to record and perform his critically
acclaimed albums, Suburban Kid, Suburban Songbook and his upcoming album
Goodnight, Bull Creek! This time, however, he is leaving the landscape of his
suburban childhood behind.
ôMy last record was very much an open love letter to my partner,ö he says. ôI
knew I could only make that kind of record once in a lifetime and IÆm so proud
of it. But this time, I wanted to express my feelings about the outside world a
little bit more. This record is a little bit deeper and richer.ö
Bull Creek is the name of the southern suburb of Perth where Mitchell grew up.
ItÆs a very ordinary little suburb filled with little brown brick houses.
Mitchell says the suburb represents a lot of things he was using on the last
album in terms of innocence and naivety and simplicity - all the things he
associates with his childhood. The first song, æSomeone So MuchÆ, states
MitchellÆs intention to leave the suburbs behind even though he was expected to
do one more suburban record. ôItÆs my intention to venture out into the world
and express something greater than my own little existence,ö he explains.
Teaming up again with Songbook producer Brad Jones (Josh Rouse, Yo La Tengo,
Sheryl Crow) and recording in the same Nashville studio, Mitchell set out to
make a rock album but hold onto the charm of the established Bob Evans sound.
Jones encouraged him to throw out the click track and record all the songs live
with a group of crack Nashville musicians including drummer Ken Coomer
(ex-Wilco), who also played on Suburban Songbook, in-demand guitarist Will
Kimbrough (voted Americana Music Association Instrumentalist Of The Year in
2004), Jones on bass, and vocalist Melissa Mathers.
Mitchell says heÆs proud of the albums heÆs made but didnÆt want to be labelled
just another singer/songwriter. Instead, he wanted to surprise people by making
more of a band record this time. ôThere is a lot more electricity running
through this record. We got four people in room and they played live in the way
a good rock album is supposed to be made but seldom is these days. ItÆs a band
album yet there is no band.ö
Fans of the singer-songwriter greats - Elvis Costello, Elliott Smith, Neil Finn,
Tim Rogers, even Neil Diamond, will find much to admire in Goodnight, Bull
Creek! The albumÆs sound is reassuringly familiar yet bolstered with
sophisticated arrangements and instrumentation including organ, flutes, strings,
a toy piano and Moog.
One track, ôPower Of Speechö is a smooth and sexy Bossa nova tune.
ôWhen I first heard Bossa nova, I fell in love with it instantly and I knew I
wanted to write a song like that. ItÆs completely tongue-in-cheek but the music
is serious. I donÆt have any classical guitar training so I got blisters on my
fingers trying to learn all those jazz chords,ö Mitchell says.
Another song, ôPasha Bulkerö, is inspired by the grounding of the massive bulk
carrier on Nobbys beach in Newcastle but is fuelled by MitchellÆs feelings of
being lost at sea during a bout of depression in 2007.
ôBrother O Brotherö began as MitchellÆs thoughts on Sorry Day and grew into a
song about inequality in the world.
ôItÆs A Beginningö is an upbeat pop song that nods to The Cure, and ôEverything
Goesö, the beautiful final track on the album, is an ode to life moving on.
Lyrically this album is heavier and deeper than the last record. ItÆs more
twitchy and uncomfortable and maybe a little more restless, which sums up the
way Mitchell was feeling leading up to making it. But it maintains the gentle
beauty and harmonies of the Bob Evans sound loved by fans on Suburban Songbook.
Track Listing