Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The real stuff, August 7, 2007
Almost 30 years ago Peter Case and the Plimsouls first came to many people's attention in a now famous scene in the Nicholas Cage vehicle "Valley Girl," in which Cage takes his girlfriend to a club to hear the Plimsouls, telling her "this is real music, not that techno (stuff) you listen to." Today the Valley Girl fad is, fortunately, long forgotten, but Peter Case, now usually a solo performer, is still mining musical gold. Here he performs mostly solo, but with well-chosen collaborators on several tracks, including "Every 24 Hours," which features some characteristically brilliant playing (and backing vocals) by British songwriter and guitar wiz Richard Thompson.
The title alludes to the great bluesman Sleepy John Estes, who serves as a kind of presiding spirit. But it's not a "tribute record," and in fact there's only one blues cover here (not a Sleepy John song). Instead you get Case at top form as singer, songwriter, and guitarist. There's a unity to these songs, most of which return to the same group of themes: justice, faith, life on the road, looking back at your own past, looking around you at how the world is. "Every 24 Hours," "Ain't Gonna Worry No More," and "I'm Gonna Change My Ways" are as good as anything Peter has ever written, and the rest aren't far behind. And since it's mostly Case and his guitar you really get a chance to hear his abilities as a player.
Case has reportedly said that this is the record he's always wanted to make. His fans are likely to agree that it's also the record they've always wanted to hear. And if you're not a fan yet you're likely to be one once you give this record a listen or two.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
+1/2 -- Folk-blues troubadour on top of his game, August 23, 2007
Case's credentials as a street-savvy folk troubadour have long since eclipsed his previous power pop identity with the Nerves and Plimsouls. Still, his well-traveled, socially observant lyrics draw upon the same well of honesty and directness as his earlier work, but without the electric guitars and drums. Case sings to his own strummed and picked accompaniment supplemented by an occasional guest guitarist or vocalist, performing on a small scale that opens a window on his intimate live performances.
The life of a touring musician is a central theme in Case's songwriting, reporting from the road on "24 Hours" and "The Open Road Song," and considering the philosophical and social issues that present themselves in the rush of every day life. Songs of social inequity ("Million Dollars Bail"), humanity gripped in the crush of homelessness ("Underneath the Stars"), and faded glory ("Palookaville") are startling in their detail. Even when writing in a third person narrative, Case writes with first person experience.
In addition to nine new titles, Case revives one of his earliest compositions, 1970's "Just Hangin' On," and covers the traditional "Get Away Blues." He's augmented by Richard Thompson's guitar and voice on "Every 24 Hours," vocalist Lysa Flores on "Some Bright Mornin' Blues," Norm Hamlet (of Merle Haggard's Strangers) on pedal steel for "That Soul Twist," and singer/guitarist Carlos Guitarlos on "Underneath the Stars." Case continues to develop and refine his considerable craft, deepening the experience and wisdom of his songs and performances. 4-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings. [©2007 hyperbolium dot com]
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"There are Two Kinds of Justice...", August 9, 2007
...as Peter Case reminds us on "Million Dollars Bail", one of eleven reasons to lay your hat on the table and stay awhile. While Case is painting a picture of injustice as it relates to the haves and have nots, he could just as easily be referring to the vagaries of the music world - where an artist of Cases' stature is left to paint his passionate songs of love, loss, pain, and hope in the shadows of an increasingly complacent universe.
Singing in his clear passionate tenor, mostly alone with his guitar, Case mourns the loss of the dream in "Palookaville", at the same time he champions the Terry Malloy's of the land - those who are still fighting in a world that has forgotten them.
Richard Thompson shows up on "Every 24 Hours" to lend a hand on vocals and guitar. The line "who moved the furniture, who turned out the lights" is the cry of everyman, and everywoman, amazed and dazed at how difficult it is to maneuver in a world that changes so quickly. Where is the ground to stand on? Thankfully, Case offers some suggestions - love and hope are just around the corner.
"Underneath the Stars" could be just another token song for the homeless in the hands of a songwriter with less experience and insight than Case. Here he sings the plight of the "new face" seen on the streets, under the bridges, and alleyways of your hometown, and challenges the listener to count their blessings - it just might be you who wears "the pauper's crown" one day.
In "Ain't Gonna Worry No More" all the skills that make Peter Case one of the true great songwriters operating in the world today are at their peak - the lyrical eye of the poet, the passionate cry of the rocker, the emotional vulnerability of the `bluesman', the clarity and closeness of the story-teller. This is a true folk epic. From desert flowers to crazy store clerks, from nightmare warlike visions and puppet governments to Lightnin' Hopkins playin' somewhere, sometime, USA, Case cries "We seen a lot of troubles now the Ghost is gone."
Thankfully, the ghost of Sleepy John, Lightnin' Hopkins and other greats is here, in the voice and songs of Peter Case. The love affair starts here. "Come on Down..."
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by Peter Case 
