There's no such thing as a dead cert in this life. I mean, there's a discerning coterie of us who still can't get our heads around why The Afghan Whigs were never massive. Let's face it: there's few bands around who can release a triumvirate of albums as full of lust, sex, intrigue, drama, danger, noir-ish mystery, violence, murder and killer tunes as Greg Dulli and co did with "Gentlemen", "Black Love" and "1965" and still end up resolutely facing down cultdom after ten mostly gloriously productive years.
Not that Dulli's exactly the shrinking violet type, yet your reviewer still gets the feeling he's surprised the world ain't quite ready for him yet and that he was kinda taken off balance when the Whigs finally agreed to amicably part during 2001. Nonetheless, that the masses still haven't taken Dulli to their collective bosom is by and large their problem. For those of us who know better, he's pretty much always delivered (since "Congregation" anyway) and he again does so magnificently with "Blackberry Belle", his new combo THE TWILIGHT SINGERS' erstwhile second release.
Your reviewer must shamefully admit limited knowledge of the band's first album "The Twilight Singers Sing The Twilight Singers", although he hopes to put that right, but fear not: even if (like me) you missed out there, "Blackberry Belle" is an excellent second floor to stop the elevator and step inside.
In many ways, "Blackberry Belle" is the logical successor of "1965" and "Black Love" actually, in that it's every bit as personal, dangerous, cinematic and involved as those albums and naturally requires considerable repeated listening. Dulli himself is adamant he won't explain the exact nature of his lyrcial input, but it's a pretty safe bet many of these tunes (often which feel thematically and lyrically linked) draw heavily on personal experience and many of them are informed by the death of Dulli's close friend Teddy: a tragic event which coloured the sound of the album.
One thing should be pointed out from the off. There's little of the hipshakin' rocking quotient that stuffed the Whigs albums with songs like "Honky's Ladder," "Debonair" and "Somethin' Hot". Indeed, only the piledriving "Teenage Wristband" (with its' lovely, but misleading rippling piano intro) fits such an ecstatic, instant bill, but bearing in mind the quality of Dulli's wares here, that's no big deal. Indeed, if you want strength in depth, ya come to the right place, bro'.
Musically, "Blackberry Belle" is rarely short of stunning. Unlike the Whigs core line-up, Dulli here mixes and matches sympathetic players and conjures a series of superbly evocative backdrops for his songs. Certainly, he has some influential friends as the likes of Mark Lanegan (more of him later) and amazing lap steel player Alvin Youngblood Hart feature and make significant contributions. Hart instils one of the album's most hypnotic tracks, "The Killer" with all manner of weirdly atmospheric fills, although when the mellotron slides in and the whole band smash in, the song recalls the crescendo in the Whigs' mighty "Faded", without ever feeling remotely parodic.
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But the lesser known core members of the Twilight Singers make their presence felt, too. Mathias Schneeberger plays evocative guitar on several tracks; Jon Skibic adds some wonderfully rustic, "Deliverance"-style banjo on "Papillon" and Dulli himself proves himself to be a quite remarkable musician, adding gorgeous piano fills to songs like the gripping opener "Martin Eden" (named after the Jack London novel), "Teenage Wristband" and "Esta Noche."
Thrillingly, Dulli's love affair with soul remains deliciously intact too. There may be less in terms of big rock singles, but songs like the hard-bitten "Decatur St." ("I know what I had and I know what I got, maybe my soul iz like a vacant lot, shot"), "Papillon" and "Feathers" are all deliciously phonky mofos, drenched in clavinets (yess!!), Curtis Mayfield wah-wah and unquenchable lusty intent. Dulli's rhythmic bent has obviously been sharpened further by his collaborations with Cypress Hill and the Lo-Fidelity Allstars, too - just check the breakbeats and tricky rhythms of Feathers" and "Fat City (Slight Return)" for ample proof.
So, on the basis of 10 songs we're looking at something approaching exceptional, but it's the album's final track, "Number Nine" that elevates it to something far greater altogether. An absolute tour de force, it rides in on hymnal organ and - reminiscent in atmosphere of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" - it features a superb three-way vocal from Mark Lanegan, Petra Haden and Dulli, not to mention skirling violin and indescribably descriptive pedal steel from Skibic and could well be an open letter to the devil itself. Whatever it is, one thing's for certain: it's one of the greatest things either Dulli or Lanegan has ever committed to tape and that's saying something. If you're already drooling (you should be), then you'll be intrigued to know the pair have an album ready to go as The Gutter Twins come Autumn.
So there you have it: 2004's only just over a week old and already we've got a stone cold classic. At this stage you shouldn't need much more prompting to either get online or down your local store. "Blackberry Belle" truly is the belle of the ball, so come on, get your shine on and meet me at the gate. This one's as close to a dead cert as you'll get.
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