(This review is based on a listen of eight of the 18 tracks on the disc.)
It is rare today to find out something meaningful and sincere about a singer through his music. Even more rare is when the tunes offer such a smooth ride, as on "Glider."
It used to be music was more than general platitudes about romance, love and fighting for your right to par-tay, and at least partly about presenting confessions. You listen to Mike Dalton and the band and you're swept away, not in morass of morbidity, but a life story in 18 chapters.
Dalton offers the complexity of voice that comes with anyone even mildly worth listening to - in casual conversation or in your headphones; on the bar stage or blasting around your apartment.
You gotta love yourself
You got no help in singing alone sometimes
Sometimes we don't mind
But I'm a father ...."
That from "College Avenue" which comes after "Goober" - a song that features a spoken introduction by Dalton's young son. And maybe it's just me and my absent and now dead father, but songs about fathers who love being a parent take me somewhere else in my head.
The first few intro phrases of "Story of my Life" echo Michelle Shocked's "Anchorage," - another tale with real life characters. The melody drives the song in a happy reflection of a life lived within his means.
Looking through my pictures I see all the ones I love.
How I miss my mother who I never gave enough
Now I really need her
I'm in trouble once again
I can't make it through it
She'd say, Michael, yes, you can
... ...
I put away the bottle once for two days in a row
I'm giving up Sambuca** too, after one more show
It's such a long long way to go
And running out of gas
Most of my decisions come and bite me in the ass.
Article comments
1 - Lindsay
This doesn't show Mike Dalton's album! It is a picture of Usher's CD -
Can you fix it?
THANKS!!
2 - Temple Stark
That's all you have to say?
Mike Dalton isn't on Amazon, unfortunately and the way the Web site is set up somethng from Amazon will always be up there. I am planning to get a pic of the Mike Dalton album up there, right below it. Instead of usher do you have a preference. AC/DC? The Cream?
3 - Pat
Temple,
Just wanted to thank you for your time and efforts you put into
reviewing GLIDER. Truly appreciate your honesty and comments on the
tracks you reviewed off of GLIDER. On behalf the Mike Dalton Band and
myself, we thank you for a great review of GLIDER, and to those who
haven't had the opportunity to see the band in person, take a listen
to GLIDER.
Pat, Publicist