Naked Aboriginals, Wolves, and Dan Wilson’s Free Life
D.O.A. Dead on arrival. I imagine those letters being stamped on Dan Wilson’s Free Life at alleged music stores and radio stations across the country. The body is set to be buried before it’s even died.
Once again, I find myself taking up arms to fight for another good record due to be ignored. I’ve stripped down to nothing but my Aboriginal warrior gear, spears of profanity clenched between my teeth. I’ve sounded the battle cry, sacrificed the virgins, and set fires across the plains.
I’ll let that sexy image soak in for a moment before moving on with my next question. Is it possible to ignore something if you don’t know you’re ignoring it? Friends of the site Mark Saleski and Tom Johnson both write new release columns (Tuesday Morning Purchase and The Breakdown, respecitively) and neither mentions Free Life, nor does Iguana Glen Boyd. These guys listen to a serious amount of music and somehow this album didn’t blip on their radar.
I know what my first battle is. I have to help get the word out about this release before making my war against the evil ones for ignoring it. No longer am I the half-naked Aboriginal warrior, I’m now a lone wolf howling across the deserted plains! A far more aesthetically pleasing visual, but a depressing one nonetheless.
I’ve been banging away about this album since I learned of its existence in August. I’m about to go all Thom Yorke on the world. You have not been paying attention! I’ll recap:
Dan Wilson is the former frontman for Semisonic, a band who hit it big with “Closing Time” in the late ’90s. He co-wrote with Glen Phillips for his ignored gem Winter Pays For Summer and picked up a Grammy co-writing songs for the Dixie Chicks’ Taking The Long Way.
I’m going to write a full-on review of Free Life when I get a full copy of the album. I sort of had one, but Dan plopped an extra song on the record at the last minute and I’ve not yet been able to get it. Having heard 12 of the 13 songs from the record, I’m prepared to disseminate a few of my thoughts on the record while I wait to get the whole shebang.
As I listened to it for the fourth or fifth time today, it occurred to me that Ryan Adams fans might find something to like hear. Wilson doesn’t delve as deeply into country as Adams, but their sense of songcraft and high, wavering vocal styles sound like they could come from similar places.
The main reasons I’m sure this album will be ignored once people know about it are that it’s A) good and B) not immediate. This is a meditative record with pop charms that are often hidden. Many of these songs are delicate, fragile, and spiritual. Those adjectives explain why this album will worm deeply into the hearts of those who hear and embrace it. They also explain why this thing is fuckin’ D.O.A. with hipsters, insiders, and executives. Fuck them, friends! Fuck them in their stupid heads. Follow me, follow me to freedom!
Two places where the pop elements are less hidden come at the end of the record – well, at the end of the version of the record I have. “She Can’t Help Me Now” is short, sweet, and infectious. The lyrics are simple, the chorus nothing more than the title repeated, yet I can’t seem to get this one out of my head. “Hand On My Heart,” which closes the version of the album I now have, is another of the more immediate songs on an album without many of them. Lyrically, it reminds me of the “we’re all gonna be all right” songs Noel Gallagher has made famous; and, yes, I mean this as a compliment.. I’m probably the only person who hears the Oasis connection anyway.
Heed this wolf’s howls. Give Free Life a chance. Let it in. You won’t be disappointed.
Filed under: Dan Wilson, Listening Room
i’ve never heard of Dan Wilson, and have only heard “Closing Time”…which i didn’t like all that much.
i’ll put my “Friend of COAF” badge back in the mail this afternoon.
sheesh!
Oh, Mark, put down your emo flakes and keep your Friend of the Site badge. I wanted to give you, Tom, and Iguana Glen some linky love. I was a little surprised this release didn’t show up anywhere because it’s not like it’s being released by my grandma’s record company, it’s being released by Rick Rubin’s American label. When I saw that it was getting no run, I wanted to try and give it some.
I think “Closing Time” is a fun pop song. Free Life sounds nothing like “Closing Time.” I haven’t talked to you as much about this record because Dan’s voice might give you some troubles. It’s not Elliott Smith-upper register, but it is a higher voice. I could see you giving him the Ryan Adams/Ryan Miller exemption, I could see you not being able to get your head around it. Once I got my head around it, I was able to hear these really good songs.
being released by Rick Rubin’s American label
…and that’s almost always good news. seriously.
i never really thought about his voice. i just remember “Closing Time” and sort of lumped it in (for better or worse) with bands like Matchbox 20….and i honestly don’t think i ever heard another song by them.
That was kind of their moment in the sun as a band. Wilson co-wrote 1/3 of that Dixie Chicks album you liked so much (you got double linky-love, Sir Saleski!). Rubin co-produced it, too. I’ve actually got a lot more to say about the record but I’m holding some back for the formal review when I’ve got the entire album in my possession.
I’m not calling Free Life the album of the year, but it’s a very good record. I think there’s something there for you.
I have to admit that Saleski about sums it up - “Closing Time” may be Semisonic, but they and Matchbox 20, Three Doors Down, Third Eye Blind, etc., they were all the same to me.
But I do thankee for the linky-love. I hope I don’t have to send back the badge, I’ve grown rather fond of it, and it really scores well with the ladies.
I could hear a difference between Semisonic and those other bands, but I hear where you’re coming from. The strange thing is, I don’t consider myself a huge Semisonic fan. I don’t have any of their CDs in my collection. There was just something about this record that piqued my interest and now that I’ve heard it, I want to fight for it a bit to help it get heard (to the extent a fat guy in Alabama with an internet connection can do that). Try this album anyway. I’m not an authority on what Semisonic sounds like, but this album doesn’t feel like any of their songs that I’ve heard.
The badges are permanent, boys. Keep ‘em and wear ‘em proudly.
i put my badge on my guitar strap, right next to my John Mayer Trio button.
I’m classing up the joint already. That’s good news. John Mayer and his trio should call and thank me.