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Willard Grant Conspiracy is a Boston ensemble led by vocalist Robert Fisher and guitarist Paul Austin. With a revolving line-up, they play elegant, evocative and melancholy country music that is a hybrid of Lambchop and Walkabouts. Fisher populates that sonic plateau with bleak, haunting stories of heartache and loss. Even the frequently religious tones seem more concerned with the absence of god than with his glory.
During the fall of 1999 the Willard Grant Conspiracy toured through 15 european countries as support for the Walkabouts. The tour ended in Slovenia and one of the last shows was recorded by Radio Slovenia.
The quartett begins the show with their vocals - acoustic guitar - electric guitar - violin line-up and celebrates four moody songs (Another Lonely Night, Evening Mass, Catnap In The Boom Boom Room and Morning Is The End Of The Day) before they are joined by Walkabouts drummer Terri Moeller for the "Ballad Of John Parker". More Walkabouts are added to the line-up and "How To Get To Heaven" gets a more than impressive full electric treatment. This is followed by the dark and quiet "The Work Song" (with extra backing vocals) and the grand finale almost 8 minutes of "The Visitor". The song culminates in a Velvet Underground-style freak out before singer Robert Fisher brings it home with his dark and brooding voice.
Just marvellous!
1. Another Lonely Night
2. Evening Mass
3. Catnap In The Boom Boom Room
4. Morning Is The End Of The Day
5. Ballad Of John Parker
6. How To Get To Heaven
7. The Work Song
8. The Visitor
Drums, Vocals - Terri Moeller
Guitar - James Apt
Guitar, Mandolin - Paul Austin (2.)
Keyboards - Chris Eckman , Glenn Slater
Tambourine, Vocals - Carla Torgerson
Violin - Peter van de Bos
Vocals - Robert Fisher (2.)
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
Originally released in Europe, Willard Grant Conspiracy’s sixth album, Let It Roll finally finds a domestic release for leader Robert Fisher’s weary baritone and frightening tales of probity.
Fisher’s relative anonymity stateside probably has a lot to do with the fact that he can be a challenging listen, and with ten songs clocking in at over an hour, Let It Roll is one tortuous record.
With somber visions and a voice that echoes late-period Nick Cave, Willard Grant Conspiracy is very much a thinking man’s Americana, providing listeners who don’t possess a modicum of patience little incentive to explore. But like some of those big-ass books still sitting on your shelf that appear too intimidating to start, Let It Roll can be an enjoyable read if you manage to find the time to sit down with it.
Starting with “From A Distant Shore”, a first-person account of a soldier preparing for battle overseas, Fisher wisely chooses to accompany the tale with a metaphoric trumpet and haunting violin. The subject matter is far from a pleasant one and it foreshadows some of the weighty themes that W.G.C. examines throughout the rest of the album.
The title track, one of the lengthiest songs on the disc, starts with three minutes of passionate guitar and violin turbulence before Fisher sets foot behind the mic with an equally intense murder ballad. By seven minutes, he’s defiantly yelling on his way to the gallows “There’s nothing to dying more than a ropes last whisper,” to the point where his voice has grown hoarse. Powerful stuff.
“Breach,” the second track to clock in at over nine minutes, strolls along like a last-call conversation, which can be either a provocation or pleasure depending on your own state of inebriation.
The liquor seems to flow again with W.G.C.’s cover of Dylan’s “Ballad Of A Thin Man.” Fisher gradually builds up Bobby’s ominous verses until he’s rasping the lyrics while guitarist Jason Victor creates some gruff six string verbalization of his own.
There are parts of Let It Roll which recall Dream Syndicate’s stunning The Medicine Show for good reason: Steve Wynn joins W.G.C.’s collective approach as a co-songwriter for the song “Flying Low” and backing vocalist. I’m sure the collaboration came from a feeling of mutual respect for one another and Fisher has found a great frame of reference in his own attempt at creating a commanding record.
As imposing as it strives to be, the unfastened quality of the performances oftentimes makes it seem too convoluted to receive the attention it deserves. But for those that can find the time to embrace it, Let It Roll turns out to be one helluva read.
"Boston-based music group Willard Grant Conspiracy sure knows how to make a music critic's job tough. Whereas most bands can be blithely described with a few words, WGC practically requires a new genre tag. Stylistically, it's got strong folk-rock and rootsy overtones but isn't exactly Americana. Instead, WGC couches the disquieting angst of Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen in the baroque-like elegance of Belle & Sebastian at their most melancholic. Lead singer Robert Fisher's smooth, contemplative baritone has a winning straightforwardness mingled with world-weariness and suspicion. On the ditty "Flying Low," he croons, "And I dreamed I saw the angels flying low/They encompass all that's good, or so I'm told." The album is lent orchestral savor by the regal-sounding violin/viola of Josh Hillman and the yearning trumpet of guest Dennis Cronin. Rendering Roll more cathartic than depressing is WGC's occasional forays into wrenching rockin' dissonance a la Roxy Music and John Cale-era Velvet Underground. Dylan fans may not like the droll, thundering rendition of his "Ballad of a Thin Man." With WGC, it appears that glum is good."
01. From A Distant Shore
02. Let It Roll
03. Dance With Me
04. Skeleton
05. Flying Low
06. Breach
07. Crush
08. Mary Of The Angels
09. Ballad Of A Thin Man
10. Lady Of The Snowline
Link
