Rating: 5/5
Review:
A bit of real lass
This is a very fine album.
I liked Great Lakes very much, and I think
Headlong is even better.
Headlong was made partly in response to the death of the
great John Renbourn, Smith's friend and mentor, and you can detect his
influence here. The acoustic guitar work
is as brilliant as always with much of Renbourn's unflashy excellence, and the
lead guitar is very reminiscent of Renbourn's lovely, fluid style. Smith's vocals, to me, carry an echo of the moving,
slightly strangled voice of John Martyn, and while I wouldn't (yet) put Smith
in the same bracket as those two towering giants, it gives you an idea of the
quality of his music that there's a valid comparison.
The songs are lovely: generally rather mournful, lyrically
intelligent and touching, beautifully constructed, and musically very
appealing. Something about their themes,
chord sequences and lyrical content reminds me rather of Jason Isbell (although
they don’t sound much like him), which is another mark of real quality, I think.
In short, Headlong is a bit of real class. It is musically excellent and a real pleasure
to listen to. Very warmly recommended.
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