The latest releases reviewed
VARIOUS ARTISTS Classic Railroad Songs Smithsonian Folkways ***
With Springsteen's tribute to Pete Seeger still ringing in our ears, this is a timely release of a compilation that mines the considerable riches of the Folkways archives for songs associated with the era of the train. This is but a toe in the water, but the 27 songs do offer a good overview of the genres and the themes, while an accompanying 36-page booklet contextualises each track. The aformentioned Pete Seeger turns in a typcially feisty performance on the anti-boss Jay Gould's Daughter; Woody Guthrie and Cisco Houston sing in praise of John Henry; Lead Belly offers an angst-ridden Midnight Special, and there is much else in the blues, folk and bluegrass mould. There is also an Irish curiousity: Jerry, Go Oil That Car is by Haywire Mac, aka Harry K. McClintock, an emigrant who worked on the railroad with so many other Irish. www.folkways.si.edu
Joe Breen
NEAL CASAL No wish to reminisce Fargo Records ***
There is something amazingly dated about Neal Casal. Whether the New Jersey singer/song-writer/guitarist is whispering sweet nothings or hacking out a stubborn riff, he sounds like a refugee from another time, that time being about 30 years ago. And yet, paradoxically, his music sits easily alongside the likes of a contemporary giant such as Ryan Adams. They share the same kind of chronic love life, entertain many of the same influences, from hard-edged rock'n'roll to piano-dripping country-tinged ballads, and churn out albums with welcome regularity. Casal's songs, though, don't always have the same concentration or impact, though tracks such as the opening You Don't See Me Crying or the quirky Lost Satellite are top-notch. There are more like them, although, on balance, probably not enough. www.nealcasal.com
Joe Breen
