Mystery Ride
Edge City
Independent
2000
12 tracks
Like a fourth dimension barely hidden just below conscious observation on the streets of your town, of any town or city, there sits another, darker world. Some optimistic residents of this world call it alternative. Others call it the underground, with all that implies. Others just call it down and out. This is the shadowy world of the outsider and the unintended free spirit. Once inside, it's a difficult place to escape. Jim Patton and Sherry Brokus of Edge City seem very familiar with this world. If you are depressed, hurting, or more than a little down, you are well advised not to listen to these songs or read the lyrics until you feel better.
The lyrics here are edgy little stories told from a place where even down looks like up and broken hearts are the norm. These are dark paintings of the uncomfortable corners of our modern society, the places most of us not only don't want to go but don't even want to know about. These are stories of men and women who live where it takes courage just to survive, just to get up in the morning and face another day with no hope, and yet to continue hoping. That's the positive side of these songs. Dark though each of these lyrics may be, each holds just a spark of hope to illuminate a distant image of a better world that might yet be. This is Charles Dickens for the 21st Century.
The music here is strong, both supporting and counterpointing the lyrics. Although the arrangements carry forward the lyrics, there is a joy to the presentation that puts the lie to the dark mood of the words. Here, as is often true in the real world, there is hope in the music that pervades this world. If the words are ignored, the music is big and dramatic and positive.
This is rock opera music with a rock and roll sound in many ways reminiscent of Meat Loaf's influential Bat out of Hell but with far more grown-up content. Underlying the driving rhythm that moves the music forward, there's a "wall of sound" fullness that falls somewhere just this side of Phil Spector but doesn't have quite the fullness of Spector or the formalized tightness of the rich arrangements behind Meatloaf.
In many ways, this release is quirky, but in one aspect it's unique. As seems the fashion, there are two so-called bonus tracks on this release, not listed on the label or in the promotional materials. Mystery Ride is the only release that I've encountered where the title song is not in the main listings but is one of the bonus tracks. This song, untitled on the CD but named "Nick" at CD Baby, is one of the better songs in this set. "Nick" is a sort of folk-rock tale of a man's sometimes difficult, sometimes hopeful journey through life, his tale almost a movie-myth of growing up in the modern age. "I hope he's alive on that mystery ride and his story is not yet complete."
"I Turn To You" shows the darker side of this world only by implication. Here is a modern hymn, making no mention of God, but clearly a prayer of redemption and support. This is one of the prettiest and the most positive of the songs on this release.
"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" is the only song on this release not written at least in part by Jim Patton. This interpretation is almost unrecognizable as a Bob Dylan composition. The arrangement is a drum and bass ridden amalgam that sounds like The Clash arranged by Jim Steinman with a little Sixties guitar-telegraph thrown in for good measure. The vocal has those Dylan inflections, but it's like some manic Dylan in a folkie's nightmare. I love it.
The second bonus track is a surprise and a tease. The final track on this release, "After the Dance" departs from the overall darkness that pervades the other songs. It's a tender melody about endings, the words the sort of bittersweet sentiment of "The Party's Over" sung so long ago by Doris Day. The lyric trails off with "You stay out on the floor, and you ask for one more, after the dance is done." At 33 seconds long, the song ends almost as soon as it's begun, and it leaves the listener feeling just like that... wanting something more that will never come.
The subtitle of this release, Music for those of us who never joined up, may well be the epitaph for Edge City. The talent and creativity that Edge City has poured into this release may never make it to the mainstream. Between the quirky arrangements and vocals and the dark-themed material, Edge City may find itself lost in a shadowy niche down some dark street with Lou Reed, Dread Zepellin, Tom Waits, and other artists "who never joined up" and never will. I'm not sure that's all bad. We need artists who dare to be different.
Those who may be interested can find additional information about Edge City at the Edge City website. You can find clips of four of the songs on Mystery Ride at CD Baby.
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