Posts Tagged ‘John Moreland’

JOHN MORELAND – ” It Don’t Suit Me (Like Before) “

Posted: June 5, 2017 in MUSIC
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Following up the breakthrough is a tricky business. The easiest thing for John Moreland to do following the success of his 2015 album High On Tulsa Heat would have been to deliver a sequel-like rehash of the acoustic glories of that album. Instead he beefs things and takes a full-band approach on Big Bad Luv, which contains almost as many hooks as it does Moreland’s hard-earned kernels of truth.

You can sense the difference right off the bat with “Salisaw Blue,” which delivers some serious heartland crunch. “Ain’t We Gold” flirts with funk, while “It Don’t Suit Me (Like Before)” locates a chugging, Allman Brothers-style groove. Even mid-tempo numbers like “Lies I Chose To Believe” and “Amen, So Be It” find ways to engage the listener rhythmically as Moreland does his typically astute job with lyrics.

The feeling overall that you gather from these songs is that the difficult struggle undertaken by Moreland’s characters against the darker elements of life is absolutely worth it in the end.

Moreland does take a few moments here and there to go down the more harrowing roads of the previous album, as on “No Glory In Regret.” But even in that song, there’s somebody by his side to help him face his demons. On closing track “Latchkey Kid,” Moreland sings, “I don’t feel the need to prove myself no more.” Big Bad Luv benefits from that attitude, even as it proves this singer-songwriter hasn’t let down at all.

‘It Don’t Suit Me (Like Before)’ by John Moreland, from new album ‘Big Bad Luv’, released May 5th on 4AD Records

JOHN MORELAND – ” Big Bad Luv “

Posted: April 30, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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John Moreland - Big Bad Luv

Big Bad Luv – the new album from John Moreland – is an honest, bruising experience.  A record about love, faith and the human condition, it’s his debut for 4AD Records and the first full-length released to worldwide anticipation on May 5th 2017

His fourth album and first with international ambition, Big Bad Luv, was recorded in Little Rock, AK, and mostly with a crew of Tulsa friends: John Calvin Abney (piano and guitar), Aaron Boehler (bass), Paddy Ryan (drums), Jared Tyler (dobro) and Lucero’s Rick Steff (piano).  Coming together in three sessions over ten months, which were sandwiched between touring dates and life, the final album was then mixed by GRAMMY winning Tchad Blake, who has worked with iconic acts from Al Green to Tom Waits.

JOHN MORELAND – ” Sallisaw Blues / Break My Heart Sweetly “

Posted: April 21, 2017 in MUSIC
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If you’re looking for something a little more real, raw, and just damn good let us present Sallisaw Blue (4AD/Remote Control) a stomping road song of weight and presence, and we’re referring to John Moreland . Call it alt-Country  or whatever you like, or simply just some form of country and those aforementioned blues coming as delivered through a helluva voice. Yes, the stomp and feeling of this is real. That it was recorded in a dive bar in Tulsa before opening time, with plumbers working on the pipes in the background, just makes it seem even more right.

‘Sallisaw Blue’ by John Moreland, from new album ‘Big Bad Luv’, released May 5th on 4AD Records

John Moreland’s network television debut is…glorious and affirming and a sucker punch. He is announced by Stephen Colbert, lights dissolve, and the camera slowly focuses on the person midway across the unadorned stage, revealing him beneath muted blue lights.He is a big man. Seated, alone, cradling his acoustic guitar.He looks like nobody who is famous. He sings directly from his heart, with none of the restraint and filters and caution the rest of us would apply for public protection. He sings with resolute courage.

Then he begins to sing, to caress the song “Break My Heart Sweetly,” and all that remains is to whisper, “Oh, my god.” In Colbert’s studio everybody stood, like they were in church.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNCabzJ8KJI

Sallisaw, Oklahoma, is famous as the homeplace of the Joad clan in John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, but in this Okie punk-turned-folkie’s song, it’s just another American small town dying a slow death. There’s some optimism and even humor in John Moreland’s depiction, as thought he might remake these empty burgs into something new and vivid and as American as ever.