Walter Trout – Broken
Blues-rock icon Walter Trout, who has been riding a creatively formidable wave since his arduous but eventually full recovery from a liver transplant ten years ago, has taken a slightly different lyrical approach on thirty-first album Broken, that of the schisms of modern life, with a touch of the personal and the sentimental. ("I’ve always tried to write positive songs, and this album is not quite that, but I always hold on to hope. I think that’s why I wrote this album.")
The slow burning title track, which opens the album, features Beth Hart, who shares lead vocals with Walter Trout.
The song, which includes a perfectly fitting, melodically crying solo (Trout’s favourite from the album) cleverly combines personal lyrics relating to Trout’s well-documented health issues and the state of the world, generally.
Following number 'Turn And Walk Away' opens with acoustic guitar, harmonica & vocals before a marching rhythm section kicks in. The song carries a feel of Delta Blues throughout and contains a couple of Trout’s trademark emotional solos.
'Courage in the Dark' follows a more traditional slow blues template, which helps showcase that Walter Trout is in vocally fine form (as he is throughout). Nor does Trout disappoint on the heartfelt solo, which is reintroduced in the refrain.
The tempo-raising boogie of 'Bleed' features English harmonica player Will Wilde, who can certainly blow on the blues harp (and then some).
The equally up-tempo 'Talkin' to Myself' is a reflective, melodic blues rock number incorporating electric sitar, or a guitar with eastern sounding effects; it’s an inspired choice of instrumentation as it elevates the song’s retro feel. An album highlight.
'No Magic (On the Street)' is a harmonica blowin', semi-narrated mid-tempo blues where Walter Trout bemoans the state of his local neighbourhood, and his advancing years ("Now I’m too old to even up the score, but there ain’t no magic on this street anymore!")
The amps are then ramped up for 'I’ve Had Enough,' a straight-ahead rocker you can imagine being performed by the likes of Twisted Sister; no coincidence then that Dee Snider contributes vocals (a collaboration few would have predicted) on a number that provides almost punkish contrast to the rest of the material on Broken. Yet another highlight.
An emotive change of pace then comes by way of instrumental 'Love of My Life,' where Walter Trout delivers some of the album's best, and emotional, guitar playing (a nod here too for keys player Richard Bears, who adds some tasteful accompaniment).
Countrified ballad 'Breathe' strays a little too far into over-sentimentality; the album’s other ballad, the keyboard backed 'I Wanna Stay,' suffers from the same problem but fares better by having a soulful arrangement that allows Walter Trout to deliver some lovely six-string remarks.
Lyrically questioning "we get what we deserve" number 'Heaven Or Hell' is the most interesting song on the album. Opening with a spoken lyric over a repeating pattern, the song kicks up a gear while Walter Trout delivers a narrative vocal over a rugged, rock framework before delivering a fiery, highly-effected guitar solo in the middle section.
Walter Trout has been quoted as saying "Anyone who thinks I’m just a blues guy, I’m gonna hit them with my version of Pink Floyd!" and on album closer 'Falls Apart' there are certainly echoes (see what I did there?) of The Floyd, with multiple acoustic & electric guitar rhythms, another fine guitar solo and an A cappella outro chorus of the title. A solid and purposeful number to end the album on.
For a man of such post-recovery positivity and hope, the irony is not lost on Walter Trout about starting and finishing with songs entitled 'Broken' and 'Falls Apart.'
But there is nothing broken about Trout’s thirty-first album that, balladeering over-sentimentality aside, is yet another very strong outing from a player who keeps on keeping on.
Nelson McFarlane
FabricationsHQ
The slow burning title track, which opens the album, features Beth Hart, who shares lead vocals with Walter Trout.
The song, which includes a perfectly fitting, melodically crying solo (Trout’s favourite from the album) cleverly combines personal lyrics relating to Trout’s well-documented health issues and the state of the world, generally.
Following number 'Turn And Walk Away' opens with acoustic guitar, harmonica & vocals before a marching rhythm section kicks in. The song carries a feel of Delta Blues throughout and contains a couple of Trout’s trademark emotional solos.
'Courage in the Dark' follows a more traditional slow blues template, which helps showcase that Walter Trout is in vocally fine form (as he is throughout). Nor does Trout disappoint on the heartfelt solo, which is reintroduced in the refrain.
The tempo-raising boogie of 'Bleed' features English harmonica player Will Wilde, who can certainly blow on the blues harp (and then some).
The equally up-tempo 'Talkin' to Myself' is a reflective, melodic blues rock number incorporating electric sitar, or a guitar with eastern sounding effects; it’s an inspired choice of instrumentation as it elevates the song’s retro feel. An album highlight.
'No Magic (On the Street)' is a harmonica blowin', semi-narrated mid-tempo blues where Walter Trout bemoans the state of his local neighbourhood, and his advancing years ("Now I’m too old to even up the score, but there ain’t no magic on this street anymore!")
The amps are then ramped up for 'I’ve Had Enough,' a straight-ahead rocker you can imagine being performed by the likes of Twisted Sister; no coincidence then that Dee Snider contributes vocals (a collaboration few would have predicted) on a number that provides almost punkish contrast to the rest of the material on Broken. Yet another highlight.
An emotive change of pace then comes by way of instrumental 'Love of My Life,' where Walter Trout delivers some of the album's best, and emotional, guitar playing (a nod here too for keys player Richard Bears, who adds some tasteful accompaniment).
Countrified ballad 'Breathe' strays a little too far into over-sentimentality; the album’s other ballad, the keyboard backed 'I Wanna Stay,' suffers from the same problem but fares better by having a soulful arrangement that allows Walter Trout to deliver some lovely six-string remarks.
Lyrically questioning "we get what we deserve" number 'Heaven Or Hell' is the most interesting song on the album. Opening with a spoken lyric over a repeating pattern, the song kicks up a gear while Walter Trout delivers a narrative vocal over a rugged, rock framework before delivering a fiery, highly-effected guitar solo in the middle section.
Walter Trout has been quoted as saying "Anyone who thinks I’m just a blues guy, I’m gonna hit them with my version of Pink Floyd!" and on album closer 'Falls Apart' there are certainly echoes (see what I did there?) of The Floyd, with multiple acoustic & electric guitar rhythms, another fine guitar solo and an A cappella outro chorus of the title. A solid and purposeful number to end the album on.
For a man of such post-recovery positivity and hope, the irony is not lost on Walter Trout about starting and finishing with songs entitled 'Broken' and 'Falls Apart.'
But there is nothing broken about Trout’s thirty-first album that, balladeering over-sentimentality aside, is yet another very strong outing from a player who keeps on keeping on.
Nelson McFarlane
FabricationsHQ