Ernie Graham (self-titled)
Ernie Graham came from the band, Eire Apparent, whose claim to fame was their Sunrise album, produced by Jimi Hendrix. His brilliant solo record falls under the pub rock tag, but sounds genuinely American, much like a Band album you wish existed. It doesn’t feel like most pub rock (surprising, considering Nick Lowe’s Brinsley Schwarz filled out the backing band); it may just be because Graham was from England that we call it pub rock. Labels aside, this is a pretty much perfect record.
Sebastian is wonderful, but overtly dylanesque. The impersonation tones down on later songs, Ernie letting his own voice through. Belfast, the closer, is another semi-anomoly on this disc, a good number but drastic in its divergent Irish style. All the tunes in between are delicately produced and classic sounding gems. So Lonely kicking in with that satisfying and mellow groove and tunes like Girl That Turned The Lever etching their melodies into your mind. A laid-back combo of acoustic, a couple of riffing electrics, touch of organ, bass and drums sound positively great in this production. Even the harmony is relaxed and barely there, lending to the album’s beautiful mood. The bonus tracks included are interesting but severely out of place on the record, sounding like Bruce Springsteen jams.
Beautiful growing qualities to this one, with choruses that jar your memory when you didn’t even think you knew the song. Bruce Eder calls this “perhaps the greatest unknown album of the 1970s” and I tend to agree. After this record, Graham would form a band called Clancy who released two albums in 1975.
mp3: So Lonely
mp3: For A Little While
CD Reissue | 2003 | Hux | buy from amazon
Original Vinyl | 1971 | Libery | search ebay ]
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So reminiscent of Meic Stevens, Gordon Jackson, Gary Farr .
Beautiful music that I’d never heard before. Thanks.
Dewi Fraunhofer July 14, 2008 @ 6:02 pm
This is gorgeous. Not pub rock at all! Much more like The Band, as you point out. Thanks for posting Brendan.
Dave July 14, 2008 @ 7:38 pm
On first listen these two tracks seem bordering on the beautiful, but the closing refrain on “for A little While” really seals the deal. I have never heard of Ernie Graham or seen this album before. Certainly, the backing is much warmer than any Brinsley Schwarz I’ve heard previously, and on “So Lonely” the sound is oddly reminiscent of early Frankie Miller, though definitely not in vocal style.
“For A Little While” is different again, and the guitars have that Beatles “Abbey Road” feel where everything is smokey brown and whiskey comfortable. Great stuff.
ib July 18, 2008 @ 12:31 pm