Ron Sexsmith - Whereabouts

Whereabouts

by Ron Sexsmith

£7.49 Free Delivery

Released
16/03/2001
Music Genre
Rock

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Description

Pop is one of the most overused terms in the rock-critic lexicon, but on Whereabouts, Ron Sexsmith's third and most ambitious album to date, the brilliant Canadian singer-songwriter offers up 12 pop gems. "Still Time," the opening track, kicks things off with a purpose. Featuring an immediately memorable and haunting guitar riff, Beach Boys-style harmonies, and a hopeful yet melancholic lyrical theme ("Still time for love"), it could be mistaken as an outtake from the Kinks song book. Likewise, "Right About Now" has a distinctly Lennon-esque flair. Sexsmith's familiar idiosyncratic-yet-warm Jackson Browne-like vocals give all 12 tracks a certain sadness. Sexsmith and producer Mitchell Froom temper the darkness with neat tricks of the trade--be they the harpsichord that fades in and out of "Still Time," the banjo and violin on "Riverbed," the heavy piano riff that opens the wonderful "Feel for You," the lo-fi organ that pops up on "The Idiot Boy," or the New Orleans-meets-cabaret orchestra that gives "One Grey Morning" additional charm. This is melancholic pop, to be sure, but it all hurts so good. Whereabouts is further proof that Sexsmith is one of the most important artists to come out of the 1990s.

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Product Details

Artist
Ron Sexsmith
Label / Studio
PID
Media Format
Audio CD
Original year of release
1999
Number of Discs
1
Media Content Format
Album
Recording Environment
Studio
Year of release
1999
CD WOW! Sales Rank
#23260
Catalog Number
INTD90299
Cast & Crew
Ron Sexsmith (Music Performer)
Mitchell Froom (Producer)
Tchad Blake (Producer)
Juan Garcia (Sound Engineer)

Press Reviews

...Sexsmith's writing speaks as much about the more upbeat feelings of hope and empathy as they do the bleakest ones of sorrow and isolation....His delivery is casual and his points are finely drawn, but his way with words makes the mundane seem achingly poignant. CMJ (5/24/99, p.5)

...Producers Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake do a wonderfully understated job of colorizing Sexsmith's sad-kid melodies and voice....Call it buoyant sorrow." - Rating: A Entertainment Weekly (5/28/99, p.144)

4 stars out of 5 - "...[WHEREABOUTS] is wry, reflective and elegant....Seek Sexsmith out... Melody Maker (6/19/99, p.52)

...compact, tuneful melodies play out long enough for you to remember them fondly....a strong effort...that makes you want to get to know this Sexsmith character a little better. New Music Monthly (7/99, p.56)

4 stars (out of 5) - "...Sexsmith has always used an autumnal palatte, here the golden leaves are piled neck-high... Q (7/99, p.124)

3 1/2 out of 5 - "...Ron writes and sings sweetly droopy songs that melt the heart and assuage the soul. Sexsmith brings an expanded palette to WHEREABOUTS: banjos and clarinets, piccolos and English horns, all enriching his deceptively direct...songs Rolling Stone (6/10/99, p.122)

8 out of 10 - "...[Sexsmith] tackles...enigmas in guileful songs that [Langston Hughes] might have admired. The singer's well-ordered melodies flesh out phrases that would hit like cliches from a less gifted artist....WHEREABOUTS offers many morsels of epiphany... Spin (8/99, p.158)

Tracklisting

Disc 1:

  1. Still Time
  2. Right About Now
  3. Must Have Heard It Wrong
  4. Riverbed
  5. Feel for You
  6. In a Flash
  7. Idiot Boy
  8. Beautiful View
  9. One Grey Morning
  10. Doomed
  11. Every Passing Day
  12. Seem to Recall

Customer Reviews



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