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Editorial Reviews
Review
Smart, cynical, still impassioned about the state of humanity, Langford has recharged his music by stripping away any indulgences. --Jon Pareles, New York Times
Product Description
Devilishly crafted and scarily melodic, GOLD BRICK is Langford’s third solo album and the proper follow-up to 1998’s Skull Orchard. It finds him back with ROIR, the pioneering New York label that released The Mekons’ classic New York album in the late 80s. Collaborating with a band that includes Pine Valley Cosmonauts John Rice & Pat Brennan, Waco Brother Alan Doughty, Jean Cook and Dan Massey, this is probably Langford’s most consistent and coherent recording to date. While 2004’s ALL THE FAME OF LOFTY DEEDS (Bloodshot) took about a week to record and was described as "an Alt-Country Ziggy Stardust" GOLD BRICK is a far more lush & expansive project that draws parallels between the bloody birth of America and the seismic shifts of today’s globalization. Sub-titled LIES OF THE GREAT EXPLORERS and COLUMBUS AT GUANTANAMO BAY, it’s just as much about America and its way of life as it is about Langford’s own search for community within those bounds. Jon taps into universal themes of exile, exploitation & extremism by observing and participating in quintessentially American activities as a Welsh expatriate—from the strip joint to the strip mall and every bar in between. He even has balls enough to cover Procol Harum’s classic "A Salty Dog." The album’s closing track "Lost In America" was written for National Public Radio’s THIS AMERICAN LIFE and features members of ONE-DAY BAND, the ensemble Langford put together from the Chicago Reader’s Musician’s Wanted ads to record Elton John’s "Rocket Man" for the show’s infamous "Classifieds" episode.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Langford adrift in America,
By R. Hutchinson "autonomeus" (a world ruled by fossil fuels and fossil minds) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Gold Brick (Audio CD)
This isn't a bad album, but I have high expectations for Jon Langford, and GOLD BRICK verges on mediocre, it's certainly not in the same ballpark with his best work. The best things about it are the cover art and the cover of the Procol Harem song "A Salty Dog." I hadn't heard it in years, and I don't know whether I ever realized that the lyric is about a crew of sailors that burn their ship to escape a crazed, tyrannical captain when they land on a paradisical island. A great metaphor -- who might Langford have in mind as the crazed captain? And where's our island? The cover leads you to think it might be full of biting politics -- the pyramid from the dollar bill with a gold brick on top (ie, America worships the almighty dollar), and a caption that reads "Lies of the Great Explorers, or Columbus at Guantanamo Bay." But the politics turn out to be subtle and subdued, along with the middle-of-the-road music, featuring piano. To me, the best songs (after "Salty Dog") are "Dreams of Leaving," which has a reggae beat, "Invisible Man," which is wistful, and "Tall Ships," a poignant lament.
The logical comparison for this album seems to be Langford's last solo record with a rock band, SKULL ORCHARD (see my review), which was my choice for the best album of 1998. SKULL ORCHARD had several absolutely great songs (Penny Arcades, Trapdoor, I Am the Law, I'm Stopping This Train), and overall had quite a kick to it, with a theme of the decline of the working class, the Welsh working class in particular, and along with it the dream of socialism. GOLD BRICK has a theme too, summarized by the last song "Lost In America," and it could be seen as a continuation on a new continent. But 8 years later, it doesn't measure up to SKULL ORCHARD by any means. Fortunately, the last two Mekons albums, JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE NIGHT (2000) and OUT OF OUR HEADS (2002) were fantastic (see my reviews), so we know Langford's creativity is not spent. Here are some samples of GOLD BRICK's lyrics: "Little Bit of Help" includes the lines "In every treaty that is signed the seeds are sown for slaughter," "someone drains the marshes," and "a chalky line through sand and water," all of which gives the vague impression of Iraq, but it's hard to be sure. "All Roads Lead Back to Me" might be about corporate criminals -- "I hope this don't ruin your last day of trading," "you be my scapegoat, you be my cellmate." But who is it that "all roads lead back to," that says "you're going to have to talk to me to get out of here"? Again, it's left up to a leftist's imagination. Capital? The very gold brick, that disembodied ghost? "Gold Brick" is relatively transparent, a jab at American consumerism, a "boring and phony" landscape, an "electric wasteland." "Gorilla & the Maiden" is a song about Chicago, Langford's adopted hometown, with references to Sun Ra on State Street, Nazis marching, and investors as gorillas. "Dreams of Leaving" mentions "mega-slums in mega-cities," but I don't know what to make of the chorus, "dreams of leaving are no more," when I think of the huge migrations of immigrant workers sloshing around the globe, gradually creating the international working class that was only a dim possibility in Marx's day. My sense is that Langford is indeed "Lost in America," adrift in the belly of the beast and in need of fresh inspiration. Time for a new Mekons album! Here's to you, Jon, something better is coming around the corner...
5.0 out of 5 stars
We are all lost in America/Jon Langford,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Gold Brick (Audio CD)
Leave it to another Welshman to give us a good perspective on what America means and has meant to the world. Especially artistically.This man's art really hits the target. Country rock filtered through his sensibilities is more American than most American country singers today and that it is a shame. All the Fame of Lofty Deeds was a very good introduction to Langford. This is even better. Intelligent lyrics. Great sound. God, I wish this guy was more appreciated. John Cale, Dylan Thomas, Richard Burton and Johnny Cash would be proud. Good Luck Langford, your are a true artist.
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A response to o dubhtaigh,
By blue note fanatic (southwest usa) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Gold Brick (Audio CD)
The Mekons are still an ongoing concern. Langord is Welsh, not Scottish. MARK KNOPFLER?
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