Rattlebag
Phil Cody
Tiny Head Records
2000
13 tracks
I had a hard time with this release. There's a lot of talent here. As a writer of words and music, Phil Cody has the sort of talent that can persuade artists like Emmylou Harris to come on board. (Harris joins Cody as one of five backup singers on this release.) As a singer, he's a bit better than most. This is big-band singer-songwriter stuff, with thirteen other players and five other singers besides Cody, and not a mediocre performer in the bunch. The writing, performance, and production of this release is necessarily of the highest calibre. In spite of all that, with the exception of one or two performances, there's nothing here that raises Big Slow Mover above the commonplace of mainstream pop music.
As singer-songwriter releases go, Big Slow Mover is different in several ways. The most noticeable is that Cody is the Neil Diamond of folk music, setting every lyric against the lush backdrop of an orchestration almost huge enough to overwhelm it. Unlike many singer-songwriters, Cody has not just featured his own writing. Four of the thirteen tracks here were written by others. So called "bonus tracks" usually show up as a surprise, not listed on the packaging. Cody's release includes three listed "bonus" tracks in addition to the ten numbered tracks. It's unclear what makes these tracks a "bonus" of any sort.
The song that stands out on this release, the one that should be getting a lot of airplay, is a sweet interpretation of a song written by Townes Van Zandt. The combination of instrumentation, Cody's vocal style, and the backing vocals, give this song the sound Cat Steven's might have given the song were he a Country artist. It's a sound that catches the ear and the imagination. The soulful backing vocal from Emmylou Harris beautifully enhances the sense of longing in Cody's voice. This is possibly the second best interpretation of this song that I've heard.
The instrumental treatment of "40 Winks of Sleep" reminds me of "Atlantis" from Donovan Leitch. The opening guitar immediately brings "Atlantis" to mind, then instruments are added and the tension builds behind Cody just as it had behind Donovan so many years before. Beyond that probably unintended allusion, there's little to distinguish this song from most other singer-songwriter creations.
The title song on Big Slow Mover works well. The lyric is tight and tells its story consistently. Cody's performance is heartfelt and at times moving. The arrangement includes that build of instrumentation that Cody seems to prefer, building to a huge climax of instruments and voices, followed by a brief voice-over-guitar comedown. It's all high-quality, but it feels as though we've been here before. Like many of Cody's songs, this one feels like it was written with in a box. Listening, one can only wonder what this talented artist would accomplish if ever he stepped outside the box.
The slow tempoed "Wicked Cold Waltz" (written by Cody with Matt Cartsonis) is pretty, but the lyric is maudlin at best. That's a shame. The melody is pretty, the instrumental work is excellent, and the vocals by Cody and (I believe) Harris bring much more sympathy to the lyric than it deserves. It would be interesting to hear this song revised and polished, with all those stock phrases and images either removed or replaced. There's potential here, but it's not yet been reached.
"Orphan Train" is a strange brew. The story is historical and should fall somewhere within the realm of folk music. The recording starts with a hard guitar line suggestive Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" in a new arrangement. Almost immediately the vocal starts, the sound morphs into something very reminiscent of Cat Stevens' song, "Peace Train." The overall effect is of a song that doesn't know what it wants to be.
The music on this release is eclectic and unpredictable. For example, Cody's jazz-influenced pop-song "Standing Invitation" is preceded by the native American rhythms of "Opposition Radio" and followed by the sort-of-country Eagles sound of "Run out of Town" (written by Zander Schloss). The mix is more like a college radio program than a cohesive showcase for one artist.
Phil Cody is clearly a talented songwriter and performer. My sense from this release is that he may not yet have found a way to focus his talent or to distinguish what is truly remarkable from what is only glib. Given his tendency to overwhelm his preformance with large arrangements and other voices, I suspect that he also may not yet be as confident in his own work, his own vision, as he must one day become. Phil Cody is definitely an artist to watch.
While Phil Cody's website is not fully available at this time, but it does include a link to sign up for his newsletter.
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Review written: April 25, 2005
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