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Review
Having emerged from the wreckage of Uncle Tupelo in the mid-90s, with Jeff Tweedy and company splitting off to form Wilco, Jay Farrar's Son Volt persona has wandered a somewhat erratic and occasional wayward path through alt country's highways and byways.
Their last album, The Search (2007), had Farrar come back from a series of indifferent solo releases, adorning the material with a lustre that sometimes bordered on country-fied psychedelia.
If The Search was something of a multi-coloured journey with a widened spread of textural choices, the new album makes more of a mark with less tools, going all black and white with just a hint of sepia-tinged nostalgia creeping in around the edges.
American Central Dust swirls with dark roads, biker bars, broken dreams, heart-ache, brutal truths and other familiar archetypes. Yet despite such recourse to such well-worn touchstones this doesn't sound like a backwards step.
If anything, the stripped-back sound gets us closer to the bones of his chosen themes which alternate between the intimate micro-climates of the soul and the macro-consequences of when pride most assuredly comes before a fall.
The dark comedy of Keith Richards' alleged act of communion that saw him blend a Class A drug with his father's cremated remains becomes a poetic exploration of loss at close quarters on Cocaine And Ashes.
When The Wheels Don't Move is a concession to their occasionally rockist threads. Across ominous rolling thunder drums and lightning slashes of fuzz-charged guitar, Farrar checklists how the industrialised half of the world seems hell-bent on wrecking it all for everyone. Apocalypse now, indeed. --Sid Smith
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CD Description
Formed by frontman Jay Farrar following his split from alt-country pioneers Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt provided Farrar (and fellow band members, drawn from musical stablemates Wilco) with a vehicle for his songwriting and over the course of six albums the band has carved a niche for itself as one of America’s most critically acclaimed acts. Son Volt’s sound world is drawn from elements of the Rolling Stones’ Exile On Main Street, early period REM, The Byrds and Little Feat, sprinkled with Farrar’s own southern story telling. American Central Dust is another great work from one of America’s great songwriters.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By Christopher Hunter
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Audio CD
After the release of the excellent album 'The Search', there were several ways Son Volt could go. Either experiment a bit more with the brass section and expanded band sound or return to the roots of what was once known as alt-country. They chose the latter. Jay Farrar is one of the most underrated lyricists of his generation and on American Central Dust he really plays to his strengths in documenting the pedestrian lives and concerns of the man in the street.
This is not an upbeat record but it is a lovely and intriguing record. As well as the usual slightly grungey/twangy guitar sound, you get the return of pedal steel and haunting piano, which adds so much atmosphere to the whole album.
Jay Farrar also is also not afraid to deal with certain controversial topics (particularly in the US) such as global warming on the 'When the Wheels don't move'. 'Pushed too far' and 'Cocaine and Ashes' return to his fascination with self destructive behaviour where a little bit of all of us dwells.
All in all this is a great record. I picked it up whilst in the States a few days OK and can recommend it to anyone who likes Son Volt, Amercian Roots/Folk or the alt-country sound, full stop!
This is not an upbeat record but it is a lovely and intriguing record. As well as the usual slightly grungey/twangy guitar sound, you get the return of pedal steel and haunting piano, which adds so much atmosphere to the whole album.
Jay Farrar also is also not afraid to deal with certain controversial topics (particularly in the US) such as global warming on the 'When the Wheels don't move'. 'Pushed too far' and 'Cocaine and Ashes' return to his fascination with self destructive behaviour where a little bit of all of us dwells.
All in all this is a great record. I picked it up whilst in the States a few days OK and can recommend it to anyone who likes Son Volt, Amercian Roots/Folk or the alt-country sound, full stop!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By Bungliemutt
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Album releases by Son Volt mark II have been decidedly patchy, The Search in particular being a stylistic mish-mash that struggled to find a cohesive direction. American Central Dust marks a return to what Jay Farrar and his band do best, rootsy alt-country / Americana. Not only is the instrumentation stripped back to basics - guitar, piano, pedal and lap steel - but there is a strong emphasis on literate and melodic songwriting. Some of these songs are amongst the best that Farrar has written, 'Dynamite', 'Down To The Wire', 'Strength And Doubt', and in particular 'Jukebox Of Steel' to name but four. Certainly the best Son Volt album since Wide Swing Tremelo, ACD has a consistent quality and maturity which coupled with Jay Farrar's mournful melodies and downbeat delivery may well make it the best thing he has ever done.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Tommy D
TOP 100 REVIEWER
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I made up a word there, but this band are worth it. On first listening I felt that some of the songs were a bit hackneyed and cliche country ('love is a fog and you stumble evry step you take' for instance). Then on further listenings it grows on you and it actually comes across as being refreshing and enchanting. The music styles actually keep one foot in country Americana, but there is enough variation to make all tracks have an identity of thier own. And there is possibly only one less than good track on here and that is 'Sultana' a song about Americas worst ever maritime disaster which whilst being informative does sit rather uncomfortably around the other gems. Outstanding tracks are 'Roll on''No turning back' and the brilliant 'Cocaine and Ashes' a song about snorting your dads ashes with some recreational drugs - heartbreaking and beautiful. Highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Jukebox of Steel
This is my first Son Volt album and it won't be my last. Great songs, played magnificently by a top band. Worth the admission money for `Jukebox of Steel' alone. Read more
Published on 8 Jan 2011 by E. R. Hartley
3.0 out of 5 stars
Rather good but not ground breaking by any stretch of imagination
Though the overall quality of this Americana/straight C&W record is good, there is nothing on it you cannot hear done better elsewhere (Mary Gaulthier, Lambchop, Merle Haggard... Read more
Published on 20 Dec 2010 by Stan FREDO
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