Terroir Blues (CD)
Jay Farrar
Amoeba Review
John Schacht 12/14/2010
The second solo release from the ex-Uncle Tupelo founder came between his stints at the helm of two different versions of Son Volt, and continued Farrar’s trend toward both more experimental and folk-based fare. The first hint comes with the opener, “No Rolling Back,” a mid-tempo, slightly distorted folk song whose verses decry our headlong rush toward whatever it is that constitutes progress these days. You could still be in Son Volt I territory, though, until you get to the backward masking of “Space Junk 1,” the first of a half-dozen instrumental tracks inspired by the Beatles’ Revolver that pockmark the disc like wayward studio experiments and work mostly as momentum-killers. Too bad, too, because there are vintage Farrar road warrior laments (“Out on the Road,” “California”) and pedal steel twang classics (“All of Your Might,” “Dent County”), as well as a couple of more experimental tracks that actually work, like the strings-augmented “Cahokian,” a parable about the lost tribes responsible for the burial mounds that litter Farrar’s native St. Louis region without most people ever knowing. But other tracks shoot for that same psychedelic-flavored vibe and fall flat, such as the sitar-and-synth-flavored “Fool King’s Crown,” while others seem to circle a hook without ever landing or adding much else to the equation, like the 12-string-slide of “Walk You Down” and the distorted vocal take of “Hard Is the Fall.” Speaking of that song, Farrar included second versions of some songs, including “Hard Is the Fall II” and “No Rolling Back II,” each stripped of any effects and far more effecting for it. That more than anything suggests just how transitional this record was, and how unsure Farrar may have been about the change.
Track Listing
Disc 1 Titles |
Artist |
Length |
---|---|---|
1.
No Rolling Back
|
Jay Farrar | 03:05 |
2.
Space Junk I
|
Jay Farrar | 00:52 |
3.
Hard Is The Fall
|
Jay Farrar | 02:32 |
4.
Fool King's Crown
|
Jay Farrar | 02:23 |
5.
Space Junk II
|
Jay Farrar | 00:35 |
6.
Hanging On To You
|
Jay Farrar | 02:51 |
7.
Cahokian
|
Jay Farrar | 04:33 |
8.
Heart On The Ground
|
Jay Farrar | 04:20 |
9.
Out On The Road
|
Jay Farrar | 04:57 |
10.
All Of Your Might
|
Jay Farrar | 03:47 |
11.
Space Junk III
|
Jay Farrar | 00:37 |
12.
California
|
Jay Farrar | 04:20 |
13.
Walk You Down
|
Jay Farrar | 02:21 |
14.
Space Junk IV
|
Jay Farrar | 00:35 |
15.
Dent County
|
Jay Farrar | 03:53 |
16.
Fish Fingers Norway
|
Jay Farrar | 02:09 |
17.
Space Junk V
|
Jay Farrar | 00:30 |
18.
Hanging On To You II
|
Jay Farrar | 02:43 |
19.
Hard Is The Fall II
|
Jay Farrar | 02:30 |
20.
Jam
|
Jay Farrar | 00:41 |
21.
Heart On The Ground II
|
Jay Farrar | 04:39 |
22.
No Rolling Back II
|
Jay Farrar | 03:14 |
23.
Space Junk VI
|
Jay Farrar | 00:55 |