Knee Jerkin’ Eric Bachmann’s “To The Races”
Posted on September 15, 2006 by Tito
Last night I swung by Amoeba on the way home from work to pick up some tunes for my upcoming road trip playlists. Lucky me .. I caught the second half of a Two Gallants in-store performance. At its conclusion, the only CD I walked out with was Eric Bahmann’s To The Races, which got strong praise at Jeff’s — and that’s all the pushin’ I needed. Couple that with my work’s systems going offline just now, I say “onto the knee-jerking!!” I’ll also throw in my initial iPod “star ratings” for each track*.
Man o War
Guitar pickin in an Iron & Wine-y way. Outlook good. Couple this song title with the album title (To The Races), will we be talking about horses or battle or both?… I like the backing vocals on this song.
the sea doesn’t care if your lonesome tonight
Initial Star Rating: 3
Home
Voice sounds sliightly raspier on this track. We get a little string between 1st and 2nd verses.
Initial Star Rating: 2
Carrboro Woman
The only track I’d heard previously. I already like it a lot and look forward to seeing how it fits in with the rest of the record. Now we get some harmonica.
you ain’t my woman
and woman
I ain’t your man
The songs so far have all been sparsely arranged, with mostly guitar and vocals. T1 addes some background singes. T2 had some strings. This one gets the harmonica (and some low— organs?). While all are pretty minimal, I appreciate the subtle mixes-up in instrumentation to keep things a little different.
Initial Star Rating: 4
Genevieve
In a nutshell it sounds like the narrator goes to watch a sleeping woman breathe, but must escape before she waks, because he’s a stalker freak she has no interest in. Pronounced “Jean of Eve”.
Sounds likee Bruce Springsteen at stretches vocally. Another passable song of unrequited love…and done well enough, but I’ll stick with “Passin’ Me By” for now.
Initial Star Rating: 2
Genie Genie
A slightly quicker word flow on this song about looking for ‘something’…
I like these lines:
some you ask, they don’t give
some you push and they don’t give
Initial Star Rating: 3
Lonesome Warrior
Another harmonizing vocal in the mix, and a lusher musical arrangement with some extra guitars, strings, xylophone!! Makes me think of Mayday’s “Hidden Leaves” (which is very good).
Initial Star Rating: 3
To The Races
Ahh… the title track. We get a fiddler on the roof sounding fiddler. and it keeps going. 1 miute plus of fiddle intro. … less than a minute to go. Now a fiddle outro. it can’t, it won’t, it don’t stop. Could also double as intro music for “Mystery” on public television. — you know, the one with the cool animated intro and the fainting woman?
Initial Star Rating: 2. Good enough, but I want some words!
Liars and Thieves
for some reasong “theives and liars” rings a bell. (note to self: google later)
believe what pleases you
its easy now
with all these lies
to pick and choose
lies lies lies
lies lies lies
I don’t know what it is, but something about this song stands out a bit. So far, I see this album as a sure ‘grower’ … one that would be great for kicking off an early pre-dawn drive such as I used to make leaving home for the drive from Nebraska to Indiana for college, watching the sun come up somewhere over Iowa.
Initial Star Rating: 4
Little Bird
a little too melancholoy for me on first listen. though it fits the rest of the record, for some reason i’m not feeling this song
Initial Star Rating: 2
So Long Savannah
Homage to Outkast? I’m guessing no.
so long savannah
i’ve been leaving you too long
I really like this song. I’d put it right behind Carborro Woman and above Liars and Thieves to round out my ‘so far top-three’
Initial Star Rating: 4
And what do you know? That’s the last track. Those 10 tracks sure whipped by pretty quick… an excellent sign as I expect to like this record more with each listen.
Words I would use to describe it:
melancholy
museful
gentle
situations well suited for listening:
weekend mornings.
on the road (preferably in a pickup which I do not own)
Over all, a really well put together album that I plan on listening to front-to-back, with the exception of Carborro Woman, which I would play alone in a pinch. Recommended.
Right on cue .. my office’s systems are back online — just in time for lunch. Cheers.
* On first listens I tend to give ratings between 2-4. (1-star songs on my iPod mean never play these songs except under dire circumstances and 5s are few and far between(in theory). These initial ratings are almost never to be trusted. But I share them with you as a service For the Children.
» Filed Under Knee Jerk Reactions, Music
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One Response to “Knee Jerkin’ Eric Bachmann’s “To The Races””
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It only gets better with each listen. A good assessment of a fine album, Tito.