Search - Ronnie Lane :: Slim Chance

Terrific Sophomore Effort from Ronnie Lane

Steve Vrana | Aurora, NE | 01/18/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The quality may drop just a notch from Anymore for Anymore, Ronnie Lane and Slim Chance's stunning debut, but this is still first-rate Ronnie Lane.



The album opens with "Little Piece of Nothing," a song about yearning for the quiet life punctuated with fiddle and accordian. This song--and, indeed, the entire album--reflects the quiet country life Ronnie retreated to after leaving the Faces two years earlier.



Ronnie then revisits "Stone," a song which first appeared on the Faces' debut First Step (and would return to again two years later on Pete Townshend's first solo album WHO CAME FIRST). The version here comes replete with banjo, mandolin and fiddle flourishes.



Other Lane originals include the rollicking instrumental "Street Gang" and the lovely "Anniversary" and "Give Me a Penny," which are perfect songs for Lane's achingly beautiful vocals.



Along with the Lane originals are some well chosen covers. The music hall treatment of "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter" comes across as charming and endearing. The accordian bounce added to Chuck Berry's "You Never Can Tell" makes it a sheer delight. Lane's sheer enthusiasm pulls off the Fats Domino chestnut "Blue Monday."



While this version of Slim Chance no longer includes multi-instrumentalists Benny Gallagher and Graham Lyle (who left to pursue a career as a duet), the current lineup picks up the slack nicely.



This CD reissue includes "Single Saddle" --a bonus track not on the original 1975 vinyl release--a mandolin-driven ditty, which is a nice addition to this collection. If you've already purchased Anymore for Anymore, this is your next stop. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED"

"I long to be far from the madding crowd...

icb | 05/07/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...and I yearn to be free from this social go-round." Creating outside of mainstream success, Ronnie Lane lived up to this line from "Little Piece of Nothing," which opens the album and shows his writing, along with that on "Tin and Tambourine," to be of the same caliber of Nick Drake and other chamber-folk-jazz-country poets of the early 70s. It's free of the excesses of his more popular British rock'n'roll contemporaries, his relaxed delivery less intent on aping American country and blues than giving the music an almost music hall spin, a distinctively English trait. I used to jokingly tell people that this, and Anymore For Anymore (his previous one with Slim Chance), were the best Dylan albums of the 70s, but that really sells Lane short -- there is a root common sense in his lyric-writing and tunesmithing that makes his songs instantly comfortable, the rough, good-humored warmth of his voice inviting people to listen. Unfortunately, not enough people did, at least while he was alive, but here's a fun party trick: put this on in a crowded room and EVERYONE will ask you who it is that's singing, he's just that good."

What's you're missing

joseph sanders | iowa | 11/23/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you've read this far, trust me, Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance is a treasure of enjoyment that will last years. I could tell you how great each song was and expounded on the lifting joy this music gives me but I'll just say BUY IT NOW!"