8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Power and Glory, July 4, 2006
This review is from: Lucky for Some (Audio CD)
Dick Gaughan CDs are rare, in both senses of the word - infrequent, and of very high quality. "Lucky For Some", his first studio album since 2001, is without doubt his best yet.
The first difference you will notice is that eight out of the ten tracks are self-written; in addition to these there is a beautifully tender rendition of the traditional "Bleacher Lassie o' Kelvinhaugh" and a powerful, snarling version of Jim Page's "Anna Mae".
"Powerful" is a word which sums up not only Gaughan's style of performance but also this particular CD. From the title track, "Lucky for Some", and its partner "We Got the Rock 'n' Roll" - both incisively dissecting the rip-offs of the commercial music business - to the delicious and complex guitar instrumental "Dancing with Eagles", every track is ultra-high quality.
The magnificent "Come Gie's a Sang" compares and contrasts song as art with song from the heart. The chilling "The Hunter Dunne" analyses the ways in which money can corrupt the heart, morals and conscience, and create inhumanity in what was once a human being, while "The Devil and Pastor Jack" includes, nested within its contempt for the bigotry of its subject, an thread of compassion for what must have been a not very happy man.
The decay of heart, morals and conscience is also central to "Whatever Happened?", a scathing look at those who were activists in the trendy 1960s, but who have since succumbed to the lures of money, political power or just sheer laziness. This track's partner-piece, "Different Drum", is, by contrast, powerfully and hypnotically optimistic. The message is, it's not too late - we can still do something if we try.
You want easy listening? Then don't buy this CD. You want your ideas challenged and tested? Then go for it - you won't regret it!
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