PowderfingerSpeaks

I picked up Josh Rouse's latest album at the show reviewed earlier, purely on the strength of the new songs he'd debuted that night.

Firstly, the songs are almost uniformly great, and whilst some might complain at only 9 tracks on an album, less is sometimes more. "Leave 'em wanting more" is a good policy. I find it hard to accept, for example, that The Beatles "White Album", to pick a famous example, wouldn't have been improved by being cut to a single disc. A topic for another day perhaps?

Back to matters in hand. The album starts out with what is my favourite track from the set, "Salton Sea". It sets out the album's pop stylings and production, gated snare and prominent synths, occasional vocoder flourishes, etc. that continue throughout the album. With a nice build at the end to some instrumental guitar, it is a great start. 

The tunes keep coming, with the title track, "Businessman", and "Women And The Wind"  form…

An unexpected addition to the collection was this 11 year old, cask strength Glenrothes whisky. Cask strength at 63.4 abv and and aged in a sherry butt, I won it in the tombola at an Alzheimers fundraiser. Top prize in my eyes!

After a couple of samplings, here are my thoughts.

The strength is apparent in the initial nosing, along with the strong sherry aroma. Some brown sugar/toffee as well. Softened a little with some water, but you still know you're drinking a cask strength dram. Very pleasant, however more of a winter warmer than a summer whisky I think. Perfect at Christmas or New Year.

A little late, but here's my thoughts on Josh Rouse at the Tolbooth in Stirling on Saturday 7th July. 

Never having seen Josh Rouse before, and having been a fan of, in particular, the "1972" & "Nashville" albums, the opportunity to see him in a small venue only 16 miles from home was too good to pass up. An added bonus was the chance to share a live music experience with my wife, who is normally less than enamoured of my gig choices.

Once the support act had finished, Josh came out with just his guitar and a harmonica and proceeded to hold the sold out 150 capacity venue enthralled. With an easy charm between songs to compliment the catchy tunes and sweet voice, this was a treat from start to finish. New songs stood out, especially "Salton Sea" and "Businessman", and were still lodged in the memory the next morning. The undoubted highlight was, upon coming out for the encore, Josh saying "it sounds so good in here I think I'll ju…

Arriving just over two years after 2016’s “Paging Mr Proust”, the new album from Minnesota’s finest is a departure, in that most but not all of the songs were co-written with other artists. Two Gary Louris originals round out the set. Whilst “Paging Mr Proust” was a return to form after the, in my mind, lacklustre and inconsistent “Mockingbird Time”, this is a step back up to the 1992-2003 heyday.

From the moment the drums and bass guitar strike up an instantly recognisable Jayhawks groove on “Come Cryin’ To Me”, until the final chord of “Leaving Detroit” fades out, this is a treat for fans of the band and anyone who enjoys good music. None of these tracks outstay their welcome, the melodies linger and at least 3 tracks, “Gonna Be A Darkness”, “El Dorado” and “Carry You To Safety” would go straight onto a “Best Of” compilation. “Gonna Be A Darkness” joins Mazzy Star’s “Look On Down From The Bridge” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Land Of Hope & Dreams” as songs that speak to me powerfull…