sexanddrinking
Wyckham Porteous
Cordova Bay Entertainment Group, Inc.
2001
13 tracks
Wyckham Porteous is a true Canadian original, yet his work invites comparison at several levels. At surface, the performances on this release are hard-hitting roots-rock built on a bedrock of literate poetry. This is the music of Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, John Mellenkamp, Bruce Hornsby, and The Tragically Hip, yet it drifts effortlessly into a world all its own. This is the poetry of Black Mountain, of Sixties Montreal, of Ginsberg and Ferlinghetti, of the ever-shifting literary conventions of the last half-century all set inconguously yet seamlessly in song. Wyckham Porteous is not simply an artistic chameleon but a skilled shape-shifter moving through a marvelous world of his own making.
The lyrics are deceptive. Performed, the words flow like song lyrics, pumped up with energy, expressing more than telling their story. The effect is powerful and driving, on a par with the best of popular song lyrics. On paper, the words read like poetry, structured for flow and meaning and organized to read well out loud in a way that is often quite unlike Porteous' musical presentation. Here is depth of meaning and imagery painted across the page by a literate writer who appears to understand the principles of literary poetry at least as well as he understands popular music.
Listening to this music, one is unlikely to think of Leonard Cohen. Reading the words, images and verse structures resonant of Cohen flow through these lyrics. Mostly they are not like the new Cohen but like the Cohen of "Suzanne" and "Bird on a Wire" so many years ago, elegant poetic structures that bring rhythm and a sense of myth to the stories they tell. In other lyrics, a reader is most likely to be reminded of Black Mountain poets like Charles Olson and Robert Creeley or Beat poets like Charles Bukowski, Lawrence Ferlighetti, and Allen Ginsberg. It all hovers just this side of pure academic poetry as though waiting to be gobbled up by some anthologist in search of CanLit's next star poet.
Then there's the music, broad and sweeping as the words it carries, transcending genre yet familiar and consistent as though created within a timeless genre all its own. This music doesn't so much cross genres as nestle between them with all the comfort of a cat settled on the cushions of a soft couch. Porteous' performance is the embodiment of confidence and independence.
The title song opens the set. A long spoken-word piece presented in a hip Sixties beatnick rhythm over a jumpy, jazzy instrumental more evocative of the Nineties, this song brings to mind Sheryl Crow. More specifically, Crow's "All I Wanna Do" comes to mind when I hear this song. It's the same sort of performance, complete with sung chorus, and it's the same sort of shadow-ridden content. Although Crow's character is in L.A. and Porteous' character is in London, it's as though they live in the same world and might meet each other around the next corner.
On several songs, Porteous sounds near enough Neil Diamond in his prime that, if we didn't know better we might think the singer actually was Diamond. These are the softer songs on this release, the songs that raise pop-music sensibility out of the mundane. Songs like "Fall So Deep" and "The Party" are candlelight and wine music, ideal background mood-setters for schemes of seduction and romance.
The song that is most like Neil Diamond, in both vocal and written style, "Ophelia" is a sensitive love song with, however artfully it may be expressed, more than a bit of an edge seething below the surface. In its subtlety and gentle beauty, this may well be the best song on this release.
A full-bodied rocker, "I've Been Around" is an exotic brew that exudes a variety of rock and roll flavours. The music has that big sound that pumps out of artists like The Tragically Hip or Ian Moore, flowing out into every corner of the listener's senses. The vocal is harder, no longer smooth Neil Diamond but raw like the best of Bruce Springsteen. The melody and overall performance are like Tom Petty pounding out "Johnny B. Goode" with guest appearances by Big Sugar.
On the other hand, "Better Than I've Ever Been" is reminiscent of bands like Stealer's Wheel, The Sir Douglas Quintet, or perhaps a half dozen of the best rock and roll bands that came out of the Sixties' British invasion. As The Dovells told us decades ago, "You can't sit down." This is hopping dance music that demands motion of the listener.
Wickham Porteous" sexanddrinking has so many fascinating facets that I've only scratched the surface. Each time through, this set reveals more of the depth and artistry layered into these songs. This is music to be listened to over and over again. There is power here, and class. It's rare to find an artist of this calibre in any genre, let alone one who, like Porteous, manages to transcend genre altogether and work not outside the box but in a box of his own creation.
Those who may be interested can learn more about this award-winning Canadian poet and musician at the Cordova Bay Entertainment website.
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Review written: March 31, 2005
Page modified: March 31, 2005
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