Customer Reviews

Wishbones

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Slaid Cleaves is a great talent. His songs are sad but somehow when he sings them they come out beautiful and moving rather than depressing. I bought my first CD of his after hearing a live performance about 3 years ago. I quickly found that it was the CD that I played the most. 3 years later, I still play that CD and all his others more than any in my collection. He is also a great live performer. I have added Wishbones to my Slaid "playlist" on my computer (after legitimately purchasing it) and can tell that it will wear as well as the previous CD's.

BTW, the reviewer above (a music fan) who gave the CD one star and wrote the scathing review, wrote almost the same words in a review of a previous CD, "Broke Down" (You can read it for yourself if you go to the "Broke Down" reviews). It seems a bit fishy that "A music fan" bought and reviewed this CD after saying that the previous CD was a waste of plastic. While everyone has the right to his/her opinion, I am guessing this person has a personal problem with Slaid (jealousy maybe????) or maybe with Rounder Records. I wouldn't put much stock in it.

Slaid Cleaves is quite definitely the best American singer-songwriter I've come across in recent years. This excellently produced album contains a string of first-class songs, each of which is full of warmth and wisdom. The first time I read about Slaid Cleaves was on the BBC music page, where the melancholy beauty and the wisdom of his songs are justly celebrated. Take, for example, 'Drinking days' or 'Borderline' - songs that go straight to the heart. A record to listen to many times over. Slaid's voice is the perfect instrument for these ballads, that reveal something that has become so rare in contemporary popular music - thoughtfulness and sensitivity. In other words, this guy observes -and strives to understand- people and their everyday problems and tragedies, shaping songs of elegant lyrics and haunting melodies.
As a German who's been in love with various styles of American music for a long time, in fact most of his life, this record is further evidence of an ability of sensitive and intelligent American songwriters that is totally unparallelled in German, French or British popular music: the ability to combine realistic, heartfelt poetry with beautiful melodies,
simply stating the truth, without imposing cheap solutions on
the listener or getting sarcastic.

No huge surprises in Wishbones, "if it ain't broke don't fix it". So expect, top notch instrumentation (big iron strings and sliding steel abound ) and equally slick production and performance, emotional weight and clever wordplay, stories of the hard road, American fables, and lovelorn vinaigrettes.In his own words from the title track "this is real life no reality show" . The gritty Cleaves is again in cahoots with Austin production mentor and buddy Gurf Morlix, but this time he is really utilising Gurfs considerable guitaring skills to maximum effect. This album is a bit rockier with more band arrangements than the award winning 2000 release Broke Down. Cleaves says, with obvious pride, of Wishbones "The instrumentation becomes more a part of the story instead of the background to the story." It certainly feels comfortable on the ears to this listener, and I can see why Cleaves is comfortable with the arrangements to the extent he indicates.

The only complaint I can imagine from his legion of fans will be "why so long"? Slaid Cleaves is at his best when he is telling "beginning middle and end" stories and Wishbones, if anything, has even more story songs than Broke Down. He has a lazy affability and a deceptively well-honed ability to introduce characters, lay settings, communicate emotions and conduct a journey through verse long adventures, with either comforting or confronting choruses, to the inevitable moral filled conclusion and all in 3 minutes. Slaid is as good as it gets at this, and what is even better, from the point of view of an ardent gig goer, the hard working Cleaves ( whos musical trail started busking in Cork in the mid 80's where he was a student ) can still be found touring 10 months of the year and will in any given year be at a venue near you.

Though if this album is as user friendly as I suspect it is, and given some breaks, it can't be long until he will only be available live, as a dot at the end of some warehouse for £30 a ticket, see him while you can!

tracks:

01 Wishbones .... a jaunty guitar driven careworn but optimistic tale
02 Road Too Long.... a standard RnB truckers tune (six day in this mode but I'm going to get a hit this time)
03 Drinkin' Days.... His drinking days are over but he's still in trouble, bad luck doesn't always come in a bottle. The sequel to Horse Shoe lounge from Broke Down
04 Sinner's Prayer.... Blues tune, in a Peter Green style, a lament for the lost life.
05 Tiger Tom Dixon's Blues.... Reforged collaboration with his pall Rod Picott, the boxers tale
06 Below.... Nostalgic piece of childhood and childhood places both lost never to be seen again.
07 Quick as Dreams... The old timer Jocky's recollection, riding the thoroughbreds, in the racing hey day
08 Horses.... Moonshine Willie's tale, in a Jimmy Rogers style
09 Hearts Break.... Shuffering Blues and home spun philosophy, my favourite track.
10 Borderline.... Heartbreaking tale of a disenfranchised migrant worker
11 New Year's Day.... A Cajun feel good farewell to a friend



Rob Ellen

Slaid Cleaves is one great relatively unknown singer/songwriter. Every cut on "Wishbones" is terrific, and each song is interesting musically and lyrically. So much better than anything being played on most radio stations. If you've never heard Slaid before, this CD or "Broke Down" released in 2000 are good starts. I can't think of a better Cd to take a chance on. You'll be hooked in no time.

I don't know, maybe I'm getting old, but Slaid's "Quick As A Dream" brings me to tears. As tragic as the story of the young jockey's death is, that isn't what makes me well up. I think it has more to do with the focus on the small details that make life precious. And thank you, Slaid, for the chorus. I can see the little old man in his room sharing his keepsake with his visitor, his eyes sparkling as he remembers that "sixty years ago I rode for the Diamond team, sailing by eight feet high on horses quick as dreams."

The rest of "Wishbones" is also fine and excellently paced. For example, "Quick As a Dream" is followed immediately by a comic rounder's tale that reminds me of Tom T. Hall's "Faster Horses" and why I started liking so-called "country" music in the first place. It also reminds me of why I don't listen to much country radio, you just won't hear the "good stuff" there. I put "Wishbone" the same class with Rodney Crowell's "Houston Kid" and Mary Gauthier's "Filth and Fire." All three are albums that aren't necessary pretty or perfect, but always beautiful.

I have followed Slaid's career from the first time I saw him at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival. His ability to write from the heart and sing from his soul is once again evident in this new release. He found his roots in Folk Music and put them on this album. This is definately worth adding to your collection.

Hey Slaid, come to Tulsa and play the Cain's Ballroom. Thanks buddy!

I had never heard of Slaid Cleaves until this popped up... This guy is amazing, a combination of Bob Dylan and Tom T. with a great voice. A must have for any music collection.

Cleaves is in the best of times an inconsistent composer, capable of indifferent songs as much as inspired ones. On both Unsung and Broke Down, however, he offered at least five excellent songs each. Whatever mix of musical invention and lyrical flair served him on those albums has deserted him here. His complaint of life on the road sounds callow and unearned (song #2), his ballads mawkish, oh-so-sensitive and/or boring (5, 7 and particularly 10) , his humor uninfectious (#8), his turns of phrase generally unconvincing. Only song #4 is a success. Sure glad I didn't hear this album first, or I'd not have bothered with his quite good others.

I stumbled on Slaid Cleaves by accident and have been grateful ever since. This the 2nd of his CD's I've bought and it is every bit as good as the first, Everything You Love.The songs on this album are a mix of the profound (Hearts Break), the humorous (Horses), and the heart-breakingly sad (Below, Borderline), and are then capped off with a heartfelt eulogy of a good friend and mentor (New Year's Day). The lyrics are matched by the superb musicianship. Well worth the money and I will be adding to my Slaid Cleave collection.

Singing stories that are joyous, sad and oft bittersweet, Slaid Cleaves makes yet another solid folk album in his "Wishbones." He takes on the voice of many in a solid slice of Americana, be it the fallen jockey in "Quick as Dreams" or the old neighbor on concert favorite "Horses and Divorces" and makes them all a great listen.

It is the outcasts in life that make for the most interesting songs here. "Tiger Tom Dixon's Blues" are the woes of a fighter who is seeing his prime move into his past. The families displaced by rising waters behind a dam in "Below." The immigrant heartbreak of "Borderline." These are real people that you feel you know, and Slaid breathes them to life. And if these seem too far from your experiences, he will take you downtown to your bar for "Drinking Days." If your view of Honky Tonk includes the likes of Lucinda Williams or Joe Ely, "Wishbones" and Slaid's Broke Down or Unsung will fill your jukebox.