Friday, 1 January 2016

Tom Paxton - Redemption Road


Rating: 5/5

Review:
A fine album



I really wasn't sure what to expect from Tom Paxton these days.  He's heading for 80 now, and some releases by artists at that stage of life haven't been very good, to say the least.  I'm delighted to say that this is really good, with Paxton still doing what he does best: writing good songs with fine, simple tunes and good, direct lyrics.  This is a whole album full of them, and they're very enjoyable.

It's quite a varied album, but for much of it there is a sense of looking back on life with a clear, honest eye at loves, mistakes, trials and victories.  He does it very well, with a lovely song about the optimism of youth in Time To Spare, or a genuinely affecting story of lasting love in Ireland, for example.  There's also (of course) a really good political song, "If the poor don't matter, then neither do I," which makes the point very poignantly, and The Battle Of The Sexes is a genuinely funny number (even if I don't accept its premise!) which begins:
"Back in the Garden of Eden
That never needed weedin'
Adam made himself a new straw hat,
'Twas all he was wearin'
Eve just sat there starin'
Sayin' "Adam, you can't go out dressed like that…"
Clearly, Tom Paxton hasn't lost his gift for a great lyric, and that gift shows throughout the album.

Getting on for half a century ago, The Last Thing On My Mind was one of the first songs I ever learned to play and sing, so I have been very fond of Tom Paxton ever since but I rather lost track of him over the years.  I'm delighted to re-make his acquaintance with this album; it's really good and warmly recommended.

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