Lloyd Cole: Perfect spin
Sunday, 12 June 2011 06:27 Jerry DeMarco
IN TUNE: One of the rewards of following an inventive artist through his or her entire career is a show such as Lloyd Cole put on with his Small Ensemble at City Winery, the type that drew howls of delight for gems such as So Youd Like to Save the World, 2cv, and Im Gone. Means little if you don’t know him. But if you do….
Playing 28 songs, split by an intermission, Cole and his Small Ensemble left only seven, by his count, that they hadnt rehearsed. And although he was promoting his Broken Record, released last fall, the evening had more of a greatest-works feel.
Three guitars in tune, with the occasional banjo or mandolin, enriched the folksier numbers. Yet the trio still made slightly re-arranged versions of Perfect Skin, Rattlesnakes and Lost Weekend swing.
For all his shyness and at times insecurity, Lloyd has always been engaging in a boyish way onstage although what he called a Steinbeck-inspired moustache draws way too much unflattering attention to itself. But his gift has never been the patter. It’s in the words (“cheekbones like geometry and eyes like sin, still-life watercolor woman by a window . and the entire Rattlesnakes — see below), as well as the music.
Cole has restored his catalog beautifully, polishing what were already impeccably crafted gems, spicing up a few others and leaving just the right amount of space for the nuances of his clever wordplay to take hold. The trio even made the second-set opener, (Are You) Ready to Be Heartbroken, and, later, Forest Fire, sound fresh, with Cole taking the Neil Clark lead as the latter built to its dramatic close.
After what seemed like sure-shot fame with the Commotions, Cole honed his skills, kept producing quality material as a solo act, but didn’t have a lot to show for it. Those who weren’t following closely wouldn’t have been blamed for thinking he’d fallen off the grid.
He went indie by necessity, did the troubadour thing, as he calls the solo touring, and has come out the other side able to teach much younger DIY-ers a thing or two. Cole is extremely active online, refreshing his site with new material, journal entries, songs, interviews, and more, with a clean, inviting (and, yes, user-friendly) design. He understands the value of a loyalty that runs both ways.
“Broken Record,” Cole’s first full-band album in years, was primarily financed in advance by fans, who got a bonus CD along with a pre-release edition — which he and his wife shipped themselves (the one part of the unique approach you can be sure he wont repeat).
For those intimately familiar with Coles canon, the new material could take some getting used to. But thats only because of the lyrical and melodic brilliance of Trigger Happy, Perfect Skin, and Saturday nights encore-opener, Undressed and even more recent mini-masterpieces, including My Alibi, which found all three in perfect stringed sync, and the wry Woman In a Bar.
In the intimate arrangements, Cole seemed to be going to the well a bit too often, in both the lyrical imagery and guitar progressions. “Broken Record,” with its various instruments and styles, actually sounds better itself than the stripped-down, for-trio versions.
Cole may have sensed that, turning a couple of the newer offerings into medleys, one of which deftly became a lovely version of Tim Hardins Reason to Believe (Was kind of odd that so few in the crowd reacted; could a song made popular by Rod Stewart already be obscure?)
Coles son, Will, for whom he wrote Trigger Happy when he was just a baby, enters NYU in the fall, the proud father announced.
Im not as young as I used to be, he told the rapt crowd, and neither are you.
It proved the perfect intro to Dont Look Back, one of the few truly wistful songs in his repertoire.
Sometimes you hear a song and think that the songwriter wrote that for you, Cole said later. Well, this next song is NOT one of those songs.
My Other Life certainly isnt. It is, however, a haunting tune, with a James Ellroy-type story line that serves as metaphor for a man disconnected from himself. It also gave the trio an opportunity to take multi-stringed flight.
I admit: I miss Neil Clark. But Coles bookends, Mark Schwaber on acoustic guitar and mandolin, and Matt Cullen on banjo and acoustic guitar, have helped create a unique act, one wonderfully suited to his material. What fan would say no to a finish of No More Love Songs, Like Lovers Do and Forest Fire, followed by Undressed and Lost Weekend?
Indeed, anyone who has closely followed this at times cynically gin-soaked, now and then lusty, and occasionally maudlin madman who can sometimes make the Cures Robert Smith seem jolly had to leave both thrilled by the experience and anxious for whats to come.
RATTLESNAKES:
Jodie wears a hat although it hasn’t rained for six days
She says a girl needs a gun these days
Hey on account of all the rattlesnakes
She looks like Eve Marie Saint in On the Waterfront
As she reads Simone de Beauvoir in her American circumstance
She’s less than sure if her heart has come to stay in San Jose
And her never-born child still haunts her
As she speeds down the freeway
As she tries her luck with the traffic police
Out of boredom more than spite
She never finds no trouble, she tries too hard
She’s obvious despite herself
She looks like Eve Marie Saint in On the Waterfront
She says all she needs is therapy, yeah
All you need is love is all you need
Jodie never sleeps ’cause there are always needles in the hay
She says that a girl needs a gun these days
Hey on account of all the rattlesnakes
She looks like Eve Marie Saint in On the Waterfront
As she reads Simone de Beauvoir in her American circumstance
Her hearts like crazy, paving
Upside down and back to front
She says Ooh, it’s so hard to love
When love was your great disappointment
Link to original article online
Publication: Cliffview Pilot
Publication date: 12/06/11