Search - Danny O'Keefe :: O'Keefe

Long Overdue Re-issue

Loren Drummond | Kansas City , Kansas . USA | 05/03/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This moment has been a long time coming. This re-issue on CD of this 1972 Sign Post Records recording promises to allow a whole new generation an opportunity to appreciate the artistry of Mr. O'Keefe as he poignantly shares snippets of life that radiate with an existental transparency . This work ,at moments , finds O'keefe recounting the sense of alienation and absolute aloneness that we all feel from time to time with the openig words of the opening song (his biggest hit Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues)" Eveybody's gone away. I believe this time thy're gonna stay . There's not a soul I know around . Everybody's leaving town...." Yet there is hope to be found in this album as well, even if it is a hope that looks ever so much down the road for its realization. That hope is evidenced in several of the tunes on this release, notably to be discerned in "The Road"( a song covered by Jackson Browne on his album "Running On Empty "

--wherein the singer notes that every passing moment , either happy or not so happy is "just another town along the road."Likewise " An American Dream" ,the opening cut on side two is a soaring -sweeping -rocking anthem that looks to a day "..after the war is over -when we all come home" noting " one day I'm gonna change my luck , buy myself a funky old pickup truck...". Again the hope expressed finds that one day the war will be over ( whether that war is a personal war against personal demons or the war in Viet Nam , or the war in Iraq--the listener may fill in the blanks) the hope and the trust is that the war will be over.These are songs of life - life lived amidst moments of angst , yet life lived with hope.

This album is an album of song-pictures rife with iconic personas that tap into the collective unconscios. Here we find somewhat comically , that "hustlers and preachers a man don't need for friends "( From "Louie The Hook Vs. The Preacher" as we get a social commentary on the problems of dealing with people who are stuck in either being the problem ,or in being the solution to that problem, in a somewhat Mark Twain-like short story format.The closing song , a 59 second ditty starring Andy Capp ( of comic strip fame) and his "loving" wife Flo finds them as they work through ( or don't ) intimate relational details. While a parody of big-time talent agents( Grease It )in a rocking manner slyly suggests that to get ahead in "the business" one just nedds a little grease( again the listener is invited to use the imagination in determining what the grease is and where it is to be applied).

This album has earned 5 stars for its lyrical content as well as the muscal prowess of the composer and the musicians taken into the studio.These cuts rock when they should, twang when they should. They are loud when appropriate and subtle and sparse (to the point of an eerie sense of loneliness as approrriate).They are nuanced so as to bring out the range of emotions set to words by this gifted poet.The album ,at first listen ,may seem somewhat eclectic and disconnected--one may find that these songs are all over the board. Yet, this work does grow on one and in time a full appreciation of the depth and the breadth and the universal scope of this work is appreciated.

This is an album for those who can appreciate the sharing of an artist's stories of life. It is recommended for those who have experienced life ( in its many phases from sublime to silly from angst-ridden to hope-filled). It is recommended for those who are not afraid to live--to think and to feel , to laugh and to cry , to smile and to nod at the strangers one meets along the road , to smile and nod at the strangers one finds within one's self--and to do all of these things with a realization that it is hope moves us along .If you meet these criteria , buy this CD."