The extraordinary singer Dee Calhoun is back with his second
solo album, 'Go To The Devil'. His debut, 'Rotgut' floored me upon its arrival,
so the pressure is definitely on. Will it be on level terms with the
predecessor or can it even surpass it? Even better, dear waveriders. 'Go To The
Devil' picks up where 'Rotgut' left off and is the perfect continuation of what
Dee has already created. The only difference,
in my opinion, is that his new wax is more elaborate and darker.
This time around Dee has
fulltime help from his Spiral Grave and former Iron Man compadre, the mighty
Lou Strachan on bass guitar. Having been a stage member since Dee’s solo debut,
the added 4-strings in the studio adds extra depth to Dee’s
fantastic songs. Also, as before, Rob, Dee’s
son makes a vocal appearance on the excellent ‘The Ballad Of The Dixon Bridge’.
My absolute favourite is ‘Jesus, The Devil, The Deed’. It’s
about a man, down and out, who meets up with Jesus and the devil at a bar. The
protagonist is there to get out of a contract he struck with the crucified man,
a pretty great storyline indeed, and it’s the actual musical companion to Dee’s excellent novella with the same name. Another one
is the gut-wrenching ‘Your Face’. Singing his heart out about loss it hits home
hard almost bringing me to my knees. ‘The Lotus Field Is Barren’ is Spartan,
minimalistic if you will, but very effective in crafting a world of escape
through a cloud of smoke.
Musically a touch more upbeat than the rest, ‘Me, Myself
& I’ kind of rocks and roll although the lyrics dig deep under the surface
to those parts where dark stuff dwells. Deeply personal for Dee, ‘Born (One Horse
Town) is one of the
faster tracks on the album. To me he truly tells his life story and how and
where he was brought up shaped him into the person he is today. To the point
and very heartfelt!
Dee never disappoints in
anything he does which is so evident on ‘Go To The Devil’. Since this is his
solo venture he goes really deep down within for his lyrical inspiration. And
although he never spare any punches this comes out even more vividly both here
and on his debut. I, for one, wouldn’t want it any other way. Even though he
writes from his own experiences there is so much for anyone to relate to which
brings this album cloer to the heart. Great stuff, from a great singer and
songsmith!
*Band photo taken by Judi McKenzie
-Swedebeast
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