2018 – Forty Below
Records
By Phillip Smith;
June 30, 2018
Eric
Corne, founder and president of Forty Below Records,
has brought fabulous new artists like Sam Morrow and Jaime Wyatt
to my attention and recorded established favorites such as John Mayall,
Walter Trout, Joe Walsh, Lucinda Williams, Edgar Winter, Joe Bonamassa, John
Doe (X) and Glen Campbell. Happy Songs for the Apocalypse, the latest
release from award winning producer/singer/song-writer Eric Corne is rather
reflective of the world today, and is an amazing listen. The dozen original tracks are beautifully written
and tightly woven together in the assembly of this album.
I love the way Corne splendidly starts the
album off with “Mad World”, his prophetic account of the beginning of the
end. Eamon Ryland lends a dreamy
texture to this personal favorite on pedal steel. Doug Pettibone (Lucinda Williams)
provides a delicate Dobro performance on “The Guilded Age” while Corne sings
of the wolves of Wall Street. Sasha Smith on dolceola and violinist Freddy
Koella (Bob Dylan, KD Lang, Dr. John) inject a bright Celtic
sound into Corne’s dispirited observance of current day politics “Short
Wave Preachers”.
Corne
taps into the spirit of the early Rolling Stones with “Ridin’ with Lady
Luck” and “Locomotion”. “Ridin’ with
Lady Luck” features the legendary Walter Trout laying down some fabulous
licks on lead guitar and Corne ripping it up on harp. The excitement builds as Smith lays
the piano groundwork on the upbeat “Locomotion”. Guest David Ralicke (Degue Fever,
Beck) orchestrates a rich horn arrangement on this captivating song as Corne
revs it up with a side of guitar twang and more harp.
Corne utterly wins me over with Happy Songs for the Apocalypse. It is definitely a delightful and intelligent listen.
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