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Track Listings
| 1. Two stones in my pocket |
| 2. Driving with Bert |
| 3. Hi-lo and inbetween |
| 4. See you on rooftops |
| 5. Martha's Mantra (For the pain) |
| 6. Sleeping on roads |
| 7. Dreamed I saw soldiers |
| 8. High hopes |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
While Sleeping On Roads is ostensibly Mojave 3 main man Neil Halstead's debut solo album, there is little to suggest that the singer needed this project, as an excuse to express any previously hidden, musical diversions. Essentially, a pared-down Mojave 3 album, Sleeping On Roads is soaked in the same kind of downbeat whimsy and lovelorn melancholia that Mojave 3 have perfected so well over the course of their three albums. Musically, Halstead has made no bones about his Nick Drake fixation, and so his songs continue to evoke pastoral, dreamy days with gently plucked strings and a voice fragile enough to sound delicately endearing. Horns tremulously sound, occasional a piano tinkles, and Halstead sings gorgeous sad songs, which never fail to emit a slow-burning warmth and grace. "Hi-Lo and In between" is one of the simplest and most affecting songs he's written, and the homespun title track, replete with banjo and slide guitar, is a delightful slice of Americana. High Hopes closes the album with Halstead softly strumming an acoustic guitar and opining "You were beautiful enough to make me stay". No musical frontiers shattered or new ground broken then, but really, you wouldn't want it any other way.--Suzannah Brown
Review
The first solo album from the Mojave 3 and former Slowdive singer starts with the uptempo Seasons. Nature is clearly a subject close to the writer's heart and the singer-surfer-songwriter mixed and recorded some of the album in his home-town Cornwall. The negative and positive ions from the sea osmose into a chilled and flowing album that reflects the soothing power of the big outdoors.
Instrumentation is mainly acoustic, although Nick Holton is credited with 'funny noises' which appear on a couple of tracks. The subtle effect on Halstead's voice in Two Stones In My Pocket is reminiscent of Chris O'Connor's in the Primitive Radio God's Standing Outside A Broken: the result is a track every bit as powerful.
Melancholy is woven throughout but the restrained trumpet brings it to the fore in Driving With Bert. Elsewhere it takes on a mariachi tone, but here wails in unison with the sentiments "music for your head, love is for your pain".
Halstead has often been compared to Nick Drake, and his response to Drake's Northern Sky in terms of lyrical beauty is Hi-Lo And Inbetween. Both use a piano driven melody, but lyrically where Drake had found "magic as crazy as this", Halstead's desire remains unrealised.
On other tracks Halstead takes on a more Dylanesque tone, and the waltzy Martha's Mantra wouldn't have sounded out of place on a Simon & Garfunkel record.
The album echoes a road movie in sound and lyrical content that is further reinforced by its title Sleeping On Roads. The characters contained are either in limbo or on quests: "But heaven is the place that's open , when all the bars in town are closed, heaven is the place, I never find".
If this search produces such ethereally melodic songs full of intense longing, let's hope he doesn't find what he's looking for too soon. --Niky Daley
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Sleeping on Roads is Neil Halstead's first solo album. First with the unfairly derided Slowdive (their second album still sounds perfect today), then Mojave 3, Halstead has made a succession of startlingly beautiful albums. Sleeping on Roads is no exception. For the uninitiated, the lazy point of reference, as for Mojave 3, is Nick Drake. In many ways this misses the point, and Halstead has a very unique ear for fragile but compelling melodies- this has been a continuous vein through his work even from his Slowdive days. In some ways the songs on Sleeping on Roads have more in common with Halstead's early work - long songs, six over six minutes, slowly and gently building up, although the alt. country guitar sounds of Mojave 3 are still present. Particularly great are Driving with Bert, Dreamed I Saw of Soldiers and See You on Rooftops, the latter featuring a great electronic backing and a curious out-of-tune, out-of-time guitar ending.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
A wonderful find, this relaxing, mellow and thought provoking music will be a must have for any intelligent music lover. Sit back, pour a large glass of wine and enjoy.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
For those of you who liked "Prayers For the Paranoid" off the last Mojave 3 album this may well be the best album you've heard. Most of the songs on "Sleeping on Roads" are like that song, a few instruments and brilliantly, almost mumbled, delivered lyrics. The production is sometimes different from what we're accustomed to from this kid, there are vinyl crisps (See You On Rooftops) and dusty tape recording noises (Two Stones In My Pocket) and the former really is the stand out track on this album. Even if you're not a Slowdive/Mojave3 fan, I believe you can enjoy it as a laid back album that grows everytime you listen to it. For the already mesmerized fans - you won't be disappointed...Martha takes the Greyhounds/She said she's lost her Mantras/Way down south. Pray for us/Pray for sunshine.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Nearly there
Certainly worth buying and without a doubt a diamond in the rough. Neil Halstead is a fantastic song writer and its musically very well accomplished but it lacks that extra edge... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Newman8or
boring
Taking a detour from Mojave 3, who formed from the ashes of the dreamy early nineties shoegazers Slowdive, Neil Halstead offers a relaxing, informal solo that sounds like a cross... Read more
Published on 2 July 2007 by Mr. M. A. Reed
Beautiful, intoxicating summer dusk
Have you ever been in love? Have you ever had to endure that feeling of blissful futility, where you ache and the ache hurts so much its almost pleasurable? Read more
Published on 25 Jun 2004
Album of 2002 so far (and probably on Dec 31)
Much of the fulsome praise written above I would wholeheartedly agree with. This is a truly fantastic album with sweet and catchy melodies, neat & not-over-elaborate... Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2002
Sweet and gentle
To my ear there are echos of the Lilac Time's "Looking for a Day in the Night" here (see my review), but without the slightly greater bite of that album. Read more
Published on 7 Feb 2002 by N. S. Collingridge
Brilliant pastoral music
His voice is stronger than a mumble I think and less affected than Nick Drake's. This is a beautiful record. Seasons is a great opener. Read more
Published on 31 Jan 2002
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