Ron Sexsmith - live session on Simon Mayo's Drivetime Show on BBC Radio 2 (27-04-2011)

01 Ron Sexsmith - Get In Line (Live Radio 2 Session)

TORONTO – Contemporary roots-folk singer-songwriter Howard Gladstone is officially releasing his eighth album Crazy Talk (Sonic Peach Music) on Friday, September 20, 2024.  The twelve new songs cover genres from folk to jazz to folk/rock to world music. 

"Show A Little Love (For Free/Part Two)" is a gentle, jazzy song, featuring a mellow but compelling tenor sax solo from Jacob Gorzhaltsan, that asks for some mercy in the streaming era – when it's harder than ever for musicians to earn a living. it includes some lyrical references to Joni Mitchell's "For Free" and Leonard Cohen's "Tower of Song."

 

"Crazy Talk," the title track is a lighthearted shuffle that pays lyrical homage to Patsy Cline, The Beatles, and Robbie Robertson. The song features delightful backing vocals from JAZZ-FM radio host and musician Laura Fernandez; a mellow bass solo from Bob Cohen; and a sprightly electric guitar solo from the great Tony Quarrington – who co-wrote the song (and four others on the album), and also produced the LP.

 

The apocolyptic warning of "Rider At the Gate" seems especially fitting with the planet in such a current state of chaos, division, and self-destruction. Set against minor-key flamenco chords, the guitar of Quarrington (who also co-wrote this song) blooms in the spaces between them.

 

"Chasm of Divide" takes a hard look at the division poisoning our world on so many levels, but does offer a ray of hope that we might learn to disagree with civility once again. The song features two excellent, engaging sax solos and Fernandez's haunting vocals in the fadeout.

 

The bittersweet, sentimental waltz "Sea of Sorrow" deploys a string quartet to emphasize the lyrical point that "we were born to endure" heartbreak and pain. Shelley Coopersmith's violin improvisations lift the song above and beyond.

 

"Little Bird" – originally written for a children's music project – is a sweet, gentle anthem in a vaguely Latin vein. Gorzhaltsan's inspiring flute floats, bird-like, over everything, and gorgeous harmonies from Fernandez wing their way through the song.

 

The quirky Viennese waltz "Inheritance of Junk" finds an inebriated clarinet and an equally drunken accordion dancing around the idea of how we're supposed to handle all the physical and psychological junk we inherit in this world. Lyrically, Gladstone aims for Leonard Cohen territory on this one.

 

"Oh, The Waters" is a psalm, a prayer, an anthem, and a plea to save and protect the oceans, lakes, rivers, streams that are essential for our survival on the planet. Ed Roth's accordion is quietly captivating.

 

"Irish Rain" – co-written by Quarrington – is a jolly, frolicking narrative of love – in Dublin, on Bloomsday, in the rain. Noting an influence  of the Clancy Brothers, it gets the full session treatment, with flute, fiddle, banjo, accordion, bodhran, woodblock, and boisterous harmonies.

 

"The Man Who Ran" is an answer song to the murder ballad "Long Black Veil," told from the perspective of the murderer who ran from the scene of the crime. "Veil," written by Lefty Frizell in 1959, is most associated with The Band – and appropriately, the musicians here echo their sound, right down to the Robbie Robertson-style guitar solo and fills. This one is also co-written by Quarrington.

 

The offbeat, bouncy little space-age number "Bodies in Motion" features two saxes, synthesizer, and theremin from Roth, and reflects on the quantum uncertainty of human relationships. Non sequiturs and puns abound.

 

Written in the first days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, "That's How It Goes" is a dark, mournful piece that hopes for the fall of the masters who bring misery and pain to so many innocents. George Crotty's cello solo is brief but sad and disturbing.

01 Show A Little Love

Respect to Buddz, Just made a beat to his track to see what Collie Buddz sounds like on my music. What do you think?

**Best with good headphones**

M.I.$.T. Ft Collie Buddz | Come Around || Remix ||

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Who Am I

M.I.S.T. || Who Am I|| Instrumental

M.I.S.T. || Post Up || Instrumental

An early recording of this song, circa 1992. Written and sung by Steve Paul Simms, also on guitar, with Rob Minderman on organ and John Jackson on slide guitar and keyboard bass. Recorded by John Jackson at Humble Sound, Toronto

This Love for You

www.howardgladstone.com

Howard Gladstone – singer & songwriter, penning ditties, tunes, and ballads topical, personal, historical, lyrical or humorous – discover the music of Howard Gladstone.

01 Show A Little Love

Howard Gladstone

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