Welcome aboard to the strains of Chapel Song, one of the saddest songs teetering of the edge of sanity. Welcome to the wedding but be careful who is on the guest list. “l’m a bowl of bruised fruit/ Inside a chapel of shiny apples.” Then, after the festivities comes the solitude. Augustine rings out with “Fought some battles and we lost the war/ And there’s ashtrays all on the floor/ The city ain’t beat me yet he said.” So brace yourself next for Headlong Into The Abyss. It is only the third song and you are already picking up your shattered emotions. Don’t be shy, rattle them some more with Book Of James.
East Los Angeles is a winsome lover’s lament, Juarez is a psychiatrists analytical dream, New Drink For The Old Drunk is a walk down the wrong side of the tracks. “Where they spit in your face as the hours grow late/ And they laugh as they lie and seal up your fate.” Just the tonic for putting aside that next flagon. In fact, Book Of James and Patton State Hospital are penned by McCarthy as an ode to his deceased brother, Jimmy. And the crash landing that is Barrel Of Leaves is only saved by the beautifully jagged The Instrumental. Ragged and raw but brilliant in every way.
