The Urban Hillbilly Quartet has always dazzled audiences and record buyers with its fine command of a wide range of musical styles. Amelia's Boot finds the band taking chances, stretching further beyond their Americana roots to paint with some new colors, deftly adding jazz, soul, blues, and even a splash of doo-wop harmony to their canvas.
Back away from the "shuffle" button. Songs are clustered by feel and a handful of tasty instrumentals serve as transitions between the album's moods.
After a brief statement of the title tune opens the record, a clattering typewriter is joined by a distorted electric guitar before the whole band crashes in on "Words/Wings," a soaring plea to "let words be your wings tonight." "Helplessly" follows, a gorgeous pop song held together with strings, a chucka-chucka banjo figure, and a sing-along "I want you back" chorus. "100 Years" employs a droning Americana feel to reflect on the opening of the 20th century and wonders if we'll have learned anything by the time the 22nd rolls around.
"Puck's Blues" coolly announces the jazzy segment of the album, blending electric piano and muted trumpet with nifty acoustic bass work, recalling late 50's Miles and Monk. (It's a shame that as a segue, it's an all-too-brief 1:50.) The electric piano and muted trumpet hang around for "Need to Love" and the band adds horn blasts, Greg Tippett's fuzzy, funky bass line, some screeching guitar lines, Sena Thompson's whispers and wailing backup vocals and Brandt's Beat-poet rapping. Jeremy Szopinski's wah-wah guitar subtly underpins the acoustic guitar ballad "More Blue," which features a pretty, understated flugelhorn solo.
A pair of outstanding fiddle-driven tunes bookend the next section, which bears the most similar sound to earlier UHQ records. Even so, during one of the tempo shifts in "Sunshower," they surprise by slipping into a doo-wop gear before heading back to a thrash-bluegrass climax. "Shapes" is a hand-clapping, foot stomping, folksy romp.
The album's concluding movement is a suite of songs reflecting Brandt's struggle with the unexpected death of a close friend. On "Ghost," with Tom Waits-like clanking and hammering under a swampy blues guitar, the distorted, echoed vocal questions, fears, and lashes out. The poignant, tremolo guitar-drenched "Tim" finds him standing at the casket running through his conflicting emotions, and "Go Well" wraps the suite with an assertive send-off and some resolution:
I'll sing your song, my friend, into the night
Moon shine in my eye, I'll see you in the light.
The title track uses acoustic guitar, accordion, banjo and fiddle to provide a tender coda.
This is easily UHQ's finest record to date, which is not a shot at their previous work. Not surprisingly, the band's chops are impeccable throughout and their forays into new musical territory show no signs of hesitancy. Brandt's songwriting continues to mature and his lead vocals show better phrasing ability and greater confidence in finding the sound of his own voice, most likely the
fruit of a year on tour.
It's only early March, but Amelia's Boot is the first major contender for "Best of 2002" lists.
5 tocks
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 2002Reviewed by Alex KlagesThe first time I heard of the Urban Hillbilly Quartet, it was from a friend who had seen them in concert and likened them to Havalina Rail Co. From this album, that seems to be about the closest comparison possible, although direct comparisons are difficult, if not impossible here. After all, UHQ, like Havalina, is incredibly difficult to pigeonhole. Are they a rock band? Definitely. Folk? Sure.…Similar sounding releases
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