Creatures of Light and Darkness

The album opens with the bouncy and celebratory "My Spanish Dad" reflecting on the positive memories of Jackie's recently deceased father and the latter's discovery, in later life, of Spain. A magnificent opener.

The second track, "Exit Wound" is odd. The imagery is as powerful as any Leven has employed (that of the massive wound remaining as a bullet leaves the body... representing the trauma of the end of a relationship) and Deborah Greenwood's vocals are as sweet and haunting as those of Nico... even the chorus has a gorgeous rif but the entire song is a little one-paced.

The same can't be said of "The Sexual Loneliness Of Jesus Christ". It starts with an out-take of Scottish manual workers talking about the despair of redundancy before cutting into the most remarkably brave yodeley vocal (it works!!) examining the self-doubt and sexual torment of a Jesus Christ in situ in the Middle East 2000 years ago. Recalling the book "Quarantine" by Jim Crace (in which Jesus Christ is the narrator) this is a gorgeous song - even if the content and title put it out of commercial bounds. Magnificent!

More powerful imagery in Track 4. 'The Hidden World Of She'... the girl standing on the banks of the Danube... suicide? Maybe not ... perhaps the song is about the deep strength of women compared to men. Jackie's association with the 'Men's Movement' and the poet / author Robert Bly indicate, maybe, a preoccupation with the subject and, by deduction, Men's weakness.

All change for "Billy Ate My Pocket"... a bizarre and beautifully complex song about an infidelity discovered by a horse. Weird wandering and slightly indulgent at the start as the story is woven, but he gets away with it big time... and, as the imagery and tension rise, as in the finest story, the imagery as the infidelity comes to light is SO strong as to take the breath away. The punch-line gives no relief (and why should it?).

If you were hoping for a one-pace / one-rif / one style album then run away now. I would have been initially annoyed if the ten-minute collaboration with David Thomas (of Pere Ubu / Two Pale Boys) 'Rainy Day Bergen Women' had occupied a quarter of the album but the 55 minutes of "Creatures" mean that we can indulge Leven in this sonorous tour-de-force and study in melancholy. It's a man (Leven?), in poor shape, evidently drunk (to my ear) lamenting his lot - stuck touring (Leven's loathing of hotels is legendary) and his Dad has died. A song like this would normally have an exit... and uplift... hope; but there ain't one pal and it finishes with an extraordinary diatribe by David Thomas... a wish list without hope or motive....

With a master comedian's sense of pace and timing (Leven is a brilliant self-deprecating comic in his live shows) - and just as I'm knotting the washing line and throwing it over the bough of the almond tree in the garden - he picks me out of the gutter with a slinky / jazzy "Friendship Between Men and Women... lighter and refreshing - a sort of mid-album sorbet if I might be so bold.

Track 7. and Jackie takes a great poem "Stopped By Woods On A Snowy Evening" by the American Robert Frost and sets it to music quite beautifully. As in "Billy Ate My Pocket" there's a horse to the fore and the beautiful imagery of the poem which, together with the delicate guitar work and Leven's fabulous voice pushing new limits since he lost his falsetto in a savage street attack in the 1980s, make for a great piece.

A lot of people love "Washing By Hand" to death but it's just TOO personal. The imagery and pictures painted are all Leven. It's all too distant for me. The variation in pace and style is there - perhaps to distraction. If you're going to buy this album I'll leave you to be the judge - I just don't feel qualified in the light of others' comments.

"Washed Up In Blue".. I dunno about you - but I always hope that an album is going to finish with a really good track and "Creatures Of Light And Darkness" doesn't disappoint - vying with "My Spanish Dad" for the silver medal position. I guess it's personal but I find these Leven analyses of relationships uniquely touching and personally relevant and "Washed Up In Blue" perfectly describes that sensation of being physically near someone but emotionally distant that I find / found so fraught.

Bloody 'ell! The old boy's done it again. Don't buy this album if your looking for a cheery afternoon's listening or you're trying to wean yourself off the Paxil - DO buy it if you enjoy being in touch with your inner emotions and have a weakness for one of the most magnificent male voices of our time.

A wonderful album indeed!