Lord Huron, the band I love, and yet know so little about........

Using the secret code "Worldender," I just bought my tickets to see Lord Huron for what will be the third time.  I have seen them at both the Marquee in Tempe, Arizona and the Crescent Ball Room in downtown Phoenix and this time around will be the new venue called The Van Buren.

http://www.thevanburenphx.com/events/7488635/lord-huron/

I have been a huge fan of this band from the moment I first heard "Time to Run" on The Spectrum on Sirius XM.  When I was very young, I discovered music through either my Uncle Adam, my hand held AM radio listening to the top 40 countdown on WNBC, or on that new MTV thing on cable.  At Mary Washington College, I had my roommate,Andy, who was very ahead of the curve when it came to music.  He knew about bands like Nirvana way before the curve and at the time I did not necessarily appreciate his cutting edge music like I do now almost 30 years later.   And more recently having access to adult alternative music on XM Cafe, Pandora, and Sirius the Spectrum has exposed me to so many bands that I now love that I never would have heard of in a million years.

I remember being in the car the moment I heard Lord Huron for the first time.  I was at the tail end of my Mumford and Sons and Avett Brothers obsession.  I had played those two Mumford and Sons CD's to death and it was time to find some new music.  The song was "Time to Run:"

It's time to run, they'll string me up for all that I've done
I'm going soon, gonna leave tonight, gotta
I did it all for you, well I hope you know the lengths I've gone to
What's a man to say? They'll be looking for me, should be on my way

I love this band.  I have seen them twice and will see them a third time in August.  I love both albums and have played them endlessly.  Yet I know so little about this band.  I have discussed a similar issue on this blog regarding my love of the two Michael Anderson records and yet knowing so little about him.  But at least through the beauty of the internet, I have communicated with Michael Anderson himself and have actually gotten at least a few answers to some questions I have always had about his music.

Michael Anderson Blog Entry

However, for a band like Lord Huron and considering it is an age of social media, I would have thought I would know so much more about this band, it's members, and the stories behind the lyrics.  But I don't.  I think actually this is done on purpose by the band, but I can't be sure.  There are bits and pieces a few interviews here and there, but it is rather mysterious.  Recently they had to cancel several shows in California at the end of the last tour due to a medical emergency.  The announcement was probably the most information on the band members themselves as people that I had ever read up to this point and yet beyond that announcement there was very little information given.   Was it a band member?  Was it a family member?  What happened?  And most importantly, is everyone ok?  There is are plenty of videos of Lord Huron in concert, but there are so few interviews of the band actually talking about themselves or the music.  I love the lyrics of Ben Schneider and yet I know nothing about him.  What are the stories and meanings behind the songs?

However, I would like to back track and talk about how I got to the point where Lord Huron is my favorite current band.

I can divide my life musically.  Seriously, there is a sound track to my life defined by certain bands and certain albums.  I still remember those first two records.

I am not 100% sure what my first album was.  Yes, it was an album, an LP...I am that old.  I am not sure if that first album was REO Speedwagon 'Hi-Infidelity' or John Stewart's 'Bombs Away Dreams Baby.'  With the help of the internet I know John Stewart was 1979 and REO Speedwagon was 1980, still too close to each other to be able to know for sure.  Hard to believe once upon a time REO Speedwagon was considered rock.  In 2017, I would never ever listen to REO Speedwagon, but I still have memories of big headphones, a turn table, and that record.  However, in 2017 I still love the John Stewart album which is many ways was a Fleetwood Mac album complete with awesome Stevie Nicks background vocals and Lindsey Buckingham guitar.

When the lights go down in the California town,
People are in for the evening.
I jump into my car and I throw in my guitar,
My heart beatin' time with my breathin'.
Drivin'novicated, singin' to my soul,
There's people out there turnin' music into gold.....

I can still picture him lip syncing it on Solid Gold!

Or the awesome harmonies and backing lyrics on Midnight Wind with Stevie Nicks.

Yeah, these were my first two albums and man I still love that John Stewart album.

Not long after that, I discovered the Elvis of my people.  My musical guilty pleasure to this day.  I was a kid in summer camp in Bellmore, Long Island.  They had a small record player and they played 45s.  That was when I first heard Neil Diamond's 'Coming to America.'  The Jazz Singer soundtrack, Neil Diamond's Greatest Hits Vol. 2, I remember going to the Tri-County Flea Market each weekend hoping it would be in stock.  I can't explain my love for Neil Diamond, there is so much music I have loved and listened to over the years, but all these years later I still love Neil Diamond.  My guilty pleasure.

As a child of the 1980s, MTV played a major role in the music of my life.  Perhaps the most important video I ever saw was Pete Townshend's Face Dances Part II.  I came to love the Who through the solo work of Pete Townshend.  This video opened the door to my love of Townshend solo and eventually The Who.

1982 was the year "All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes" came out.  I had it on LP and more importantly I recorded it onto a tape and would play the tape on a tape recorder every night before bed.  I came to THE WHO in a backwards kind of way.  As I explored Towshend's music more, I discovered he was part of a group called The Who.  I would come to The Who as a result of my love of Townshend.  I would become equally as obsessed with his next solo album "White City: A Novel."  I played both of the albums non-stop for years.  Fortunately these albums were a gateway to the larger collection of The Who.

Let me go a bit backwards.  As I explored Townshend's solo work and began to listen to "Empty Glass," I noticed the drummer and the bassist were names I had seen involved in another band that was big on MTV at this time.  Mark Brzezicki and Tony Butler were part of Big Country.  As a ten year old kid, I was fixated on the videos for "In a Big Country" and "Fields of Fire."  For some reason, to this day I kick myself, I never bought "The Crossing."  Big Country had some much more to offer.  But I like many in America missed that boat and it was not until years after the tragic suicide of Stuart Adamson that I really discovered all this great band had to offer.  But I do remember as a ten year old kid living in Levittown,NY watching a New Years Eve 1983 concert of Big Country in Scotland and remember just how awesome it was.  I am currently listening to a live record of Big Country from 1993.  It is an awesome recording of a band in its prime and it is hard to believe that somehow during my junior year at Mary Washington I completely missed this record.

To get back to Pete Townshend solo, Empty Glass, All the Best Chinese Eyes, and White City are the albums of my middle school years.  I remember the house in Levittown and that tape recording and playing these albums to death.  I don't really listen to the Townshend solo stuff very often anymore, I think I eventually outgrew it, but The Who and my connection to the music of the Who and how it links me to my beloved late Uncle Adam and my brother lives on and on.

1986 saw an interesting musical interlude for me.  1986, is when I first heard the Robert Cray Band "Strong Persuader" album.  This album was a gateway to a mid to late 80's early 90's love of blues.  Again, I really don't listen to blues music anymore and probably have not played anything by Robert Cray in a while, but this album was big for me and played quite a bit.  And I am pretty sure I have seen Robert Cray in concert 3 times.  The very end of my high school days and the beginning of my college years saw a very strong interest in the blues which the Robert Cray band was the gateway to.  This love of the blues that started with Robert Cray led to my short career as a hybrid blues and wanna be Howard Stern wanna be at the Mary Washington radio station.  In fact it was a very long blues record I once left playing at WMWC as I left the studio and my own show to watch an Eagles basketball game.

I think around this time I got into John Cougar Mellencamp and I would be a fan of his music from the late 1980's until the 2000's.  I am not sure why I eventually stopped listening to Mellencamp.  Sure his politics suck and he does not strike me as a great person, but I sure liked his music and there were so many great songs and albums of his.  It was a Mellencamp/Wallflowers concert that I had been to at Jones Beach in New York the Sunday before 9/11 and everything changed.  The first side of Lonesome Jubilee was and still is awesome and is perhaps one of the best single sides of an album ever.  But I think I eventually outgrew Mellencamp.  In fact I think Justin Currie has said that the Lonesome Jubilee record was a major influence on one of the most influential music groups in my life that is Del Amitri.

I am not going to re-blog about my love for Del Amitri, I have documented in detail previously:

Del Amitri Blog

In short, Del Amitri is the band that defined my college years and my early 20s.  Del Amitri is the sound track that covered my transformation from high school senior, to college student, to listless graduate, to finally a grown up.  Del Amitri covered all those emotions, uncertainty and at times loneliness of those years.  To know me, is to know Del Amitri.

Before I get back to Lord Huron and continue with my life soundtrack let me stop in 1994-1995 and briefly discuss two albums:  Cracked Rear View and Jagged Little Pill.  1994-1995 was the time between graduating Mary Washington College and finding my real permanent career.  I had that one year of being done with college academically but still trying to hold on socially and trying to transform into adulthood and having a career.  These two albums and maybe we can throw Dave Matthews in there are the albums of that year of being between college and career.  I still remember the first time I saw Dave Matthews on MTV and was like "hey, wasn't that the guy who played Ball Circle as I helped people move fridges?"

I still love Del Amitri and Justin Currie has put out some really good solo material, so I have never stopped loving Del Amitri, but just as life moved forward so did my musical tastes.  There was no one band in the late 1990s and early 2000s but there were a few that included: Semisonic, the Badlees, the BoDeans, Matchbox 20 and the Wallflowers.  However, it was not until 2009 that I heard a band that was a game changer for me musically.

My school had an SRO officer, officer Bob, he was a former Marine who spent a lot of time in the UK.  We always would talk music and sometime in 2008-2009, he made me a CD of some new music from the UK.  One of the songs on that CD was "Little Lion Man" by Mumford and Sons.  This was actually a few weeks before the Sigh No More album dropped.  I remember playing the song about 10 times straight on my drive from Surprise to Goodyear, Arizona.  I also remember looking them up on YouTube and seeing this video from the David Letterman show:

And from the moment I heard "Little Lion Man" and the "Cave" until that first time hearing "Time to Run" I was non-stop Mumford and Sons and banjo influenced Americana or alt-folk.  Sigh No More and Babel were played non-stop and to death.  During this time I also got into such similar bands as: The Avett Brothers, NeedtoBreathe, The Head and the Heart, the Oh Hellos, and the Lumineers.  There was not a banjo band I didn't love.  I still love all these bands, but I was non-stop Mumford and Sons for years.  My Facebook from 2009 is almost all Mumford and Sons.  On a side note, Mumford and Sons is probably the only band that I saw from the very beginning.  I am curious to see how much bigger Lord Huron will be at this third show due to the fame from 13 Reasons and "The Night We Met", but at that first concert it was at the Marquee theatre and it was pretty packed.  I saw Mumford and Sons for the first time in a very small club in Phoenix for 10$.  I was with my wife, officer Bob and maybe 200 other people.  Here is a video I took from that July 2010 concert:

I would see them again the next Spring in Tempe as part of the railroad revival tour, there were over 10,000 people there.  They got that big in less than a year.  I hope Lord Huron can get that big, they deserve it, their music is that good, but I do not think I will ever see a band that I follow blow up like Mumford and Sons did.

So back in my car sometime in 2013 after playing Mumford and Son's Babel non-stop for about a year straight, I had the Spectrum on and heard "Time to Run" and Lord Huron for the first time.  I went to Amazon and listened to the clips of the rest of the album and immediately bought the CD.  Since that time and with the later addition of Strange Trails, I have been listening to Lord Huron pretty much non-stop.

I like this version of "Ends of the Earth" very much especially the little extension at the end of the song.  I have been watching enough clips of various concerts and have noticed sometimes they will extend a song here or there or in the case of the "Ghost On the Shore" they add a lyric or a verse.  Again, more of the mystery as I would love to know why they add a lyric or the significance of that.  But the track "Ends of the Earth" is an amazing way to open an album.  My interpretation of "Lonesome Dreams" is that the album is about a big picture and it takes place in a big world or setting while I see "Strange Trails" as a much smaller world or even taking place in one of the worlds created in "Lonesome Dreams."  "The Ends of the Earth" to me sets the stage for what in epic fantasy books would be called 'world building.'  Just look at the lyrics:

Oh, there's a river that winds on forever
I'm gonna see where it leads
Oh, there's a mountain that no man has mounted
I'm gonna stand on the peak

Out there's a land that time don't command
Wanna be the first to arrive
No time for ponderin' why I'm-a wanderin'
Not while we're both still alive

To the ends of the earth, would you follow me
There's a world that was meant for our eyes to see
To the ends of the earth, would you follow me
If you will have a say my goodbyes to me

Oh, there's an island where all things are silent
I'm gonna whistle a tune
Oh, there's a desert that size can't be measured
I'm gonna count all the dunes

Out there's a a world that calls for me, girl
Headin' out into the unknown
Well if there are strangers, and all kinds of danger
Please don't say I'm going alone

To the ends of the earth, would you follow me
There's a world that was meant for our eyes to see
To the ends of the earth, would you follow me
Well if you want, I will say my goodbyes to me

I was a-ready to die for you, baby
Doesn't mean I'm ready to stay
What good is livin' a life you've been given
If all you do is stand in one place

I'm on a river that winds on forever
Follow 'til I get where I'm goin'
Maybe I'm headin' to die but I'm still gonna try
I guess I'm goin' alone

From the opening sounds and lyrics "Lonesome Dreams" takes place in an epic world.  There are so many sounds on this record, little sounds on this record...a triangle, a harmonica note, it just adds to the idea that this record takes place on a large stage.  Strange Trails does not have these little sounds and it seems to me Strange Trails is more a micro to Lonesome Dreams macro.

There is another part to the Lonesome Dream record that also has to be addressed.

George Ranger Johnson

The songs on Lonesome Dreams are based on the books of George Ranger Johnson.  According to his website:

George Ranger Johnson (born March 11, 1946)
is the author of the Lonesome Dreams series of
adventure stories, including "Ends of the Earth",
"Time to Run" and "The Man Who Lives Forever".

Mr. Johnson currently resides in Tucson, AZ.
His most recent novel, "The Ghost on the Shore"
was published in 1987.

The series unfolds non-chronologically, following the wide-ranging adventures of several characters, (chiefly Huron, Admiral Blaquefut and Helena) whose stories intertwine.

It is unclear whether the Lonesome Dreams series
will continue.

The only problem is that there is no George Ranger Johnson.  George Ranger Johnson is a creation of the lead singer and song writer of Lord Huron, Ben Schneider!  Part brilliant, but part WTF, another layer of the mystery of this band and album.

Hands down, Lonesome Dream, was the best CD I bought in quite some time and Lord Huron quickly became my favorite current band along with Mumford and Sons. Living in the West, Lonesome Dream was easy to connect with and the world you enter when you listen to those tracks is mysterious and wonderful. I love music and can use a lot of words to describe the different music I listen to, but beautiful is generally not a word I typically use. Lonesome Dreams by Lord Huron is a beautiful CD that has so many little sounds to it, that it never gets old. 

The title track once again reminds me of the large setting for this record:

I been dreaming again of a lonesome world
Where I'm lost and I've got no friends
Just the rocks and the trees in my lonesome dreams
And a road that don't never end
I been dreaming again of a lonesome world
Where I'm lost and I'm on my own
What am I destined to be? It's a mystery baby
Just please don't leave me alone

I am not a big fan of Lullaby, other than that, every song on this record is great.  But the highlight for me, and in concert as well, is the 'Ghost on the Shore' and how it fades into 'She Lit a Fire.'  Whether live or in concert, this is the peak of the record for me.  I love how when they do these songs live Ben will add a couple of extra words, very quietly, to 'Ghost on the Shore.'  The last time I saw them in concert they also did an little extra at the end of 'She Lit a Fire' and an extra chorus and some great extra guitar.  I can't say enough good things about the addition of Brandon Walters on guitar and doing harmony with Ben.  While waiting outside of the Crescent Ball room before the concert, Brandon Walters walked right by me on the sidewalk, I knew it was him and I regret to this day not stopping to talk to him and ask some of these very questions I have about this band.

Go to the end of this concert at about 1 hour 10 minutes to hear a great version of Ghost on the Shore and She Lit a Fire with some great little add on's.

"I Will Be Back One Day" is another track I am drawn to living out west.  Again, the lyrics are mysterious....

I wanna live in a land of lakes
Where the great waves break
And the night runs right into the day
I wanna be with the ones I left
But I'm way out west
And the years keep on slipping away
I wanna run on the sacred dunes
Through the ancient ruins
Where the fires of my ancestors burned
I remember that fateful day
When I ran away
And you told me I couldn't return

Drive through the desert Southwest and listen to this track and think about all the images it conjures.

The record closes with "In the Wind" a powerful song filled with little sounds that take you full circle to the opening song "The Ends of the Earth."  This song contains one of the most powerful lyrics on the entire record:

Death is a wall but it can't be the end

As my family gets older and I lost my grandfather and uncle recently, I contemplate this lyric a lot.  It has taken on a whole new meaning as I unfortunately face death more and more as my family ages.  That takes me to a bigger question I would love to ask Ben and the band about both tracks.  There is a lot of discussion in the lyrics about death.  Both albums are not afraid to confront death.  Death is a major theme on both records.  I would love to know why.  On one hand both albums seem to be concept type albums telling a story.  The lyrics don't seem personal to the band members everyday lives.  I don't hear a Lord Huron song and think wow, this is about an interesting part or story in Ben Schneider's life.  Lord Huron songs are stories and they seem separate from the band.  Or are they?  Is there something else going on.  One of my favorite records is "The Rising" by Bruce Springsteen.  Listening to all of those songs it is clear that the Boss was personally affected by 9/11 and his songs show a personal connection to that event.  Lord Huron seems separate from their music, in seeing them in concert twice, they never told a story or gave any type of insight as to what a song is about.  Yet if you look at the lyrics of "In the Wind" it has to be about something personal.  There is much more going on here:

You've been gone for a long long time
You've been in the wind, you've been on my mind
You are the purest soul I've ever known in my life

Take your time, let the rivers guide you in
You know where you can find me again
I'll be waiting here 'til the stars fall out of the sky

When you left I was far too young
To know you're worth more than the moon and the sun
You are still alive when I look to the sky in the night

I would wait for a thousand years
I would sit right here by the lake, my dear
You just let me know that you're coming home
And I'll wait for you

Years have gone but the pain is the same
I have passed my days by the sound of your name
Well they say that you're gone and that I should move on
I wonder: how do they know, baby?

Death is a wall but it can't be the end
You are my protector and my best friend
Well they say that you're gone and that I should move on
I wonder: how do they know, baby?
How do they know? Well, they don't

Who is this song about?  I would have to say "In the Wind" other than the "Stranger" is my favorite Lord Huron Song.  It has unfortunately never been performed in either of the concerts I have been to.  Again, just listen to all the little sounds contained in this song

"In the Wind" is probably the best closing song I have ever heard on a record.  That is until I heard "Strange Trails."

We were teased with a couple of tracks before "Strange Trails" was released.  They included: World Ender, Fool for Love, Hurricane, and The Night We Met.

Like Lonesome Dreams, it seems the songs on Strange Trails are connected. Lonesome Dreams the songs are wide ranging and the world is huge. To my ear, the songs in Strange Trails are much more connected and taking place in a smaller more connected part of the world created by Lord Huron. The songs, while very different, have an overall similar sound which to me seems to connect them even closer. In one of the few lengthy discussions I could find about the album Ben Schneider mentioned that the record is like a sound track to a movie he wanted to write but never did and that the songs are told from the point of view of several of the people in the movie he never wrote.  And like Lonesome Dreams, death seems a theme in many of these tracks.

Love Like Ghosts is a bit slow and a bit tougher to get into at first, but its appropriately mysterious and it draws you into the CD and after a few listens is a great opening track to this concept album. I would not listen to Love Like Ghosts as a stand alone track, because it fits better into the bigger concept of the world of Strange Trails.  Once I kinda of understood the concept of the whole record more, I began to appreciate this song more.

Songs 2-6 are amazing and are musical bliss.  These are the strongest tracks on a strong record. Until the Night Turns speeds up the tempo, Dead Man's Hands is amazing, Hurricane is one of the most fun tracks on the CD and can be replayed over and over again.  On the first tour to support Strange Trails I was disappointed they were not playing Hurricane.  But they added it to the second round and I was lucky enough to hear it live at the Crescent Ball room with a little extra guitar fight at the end.  Again, another great example of why I am glad they had Brandon Walters with the band:

I love the lyrics to the song as well:

I get a thrill outta playing with fire
Cause you hold your life when you hold that flame
I get a kick outta thunder and lightning and
Tearing through the night hollering your name

I get a laugh outta starin' at darkness
And wondering why people live in the light
I drive fast and I rumble the hardest
I don't feel alive if I ain't in the fight

I can't sleep when there's something to do
You spend your whole life dreaming and you wake up dead
It's a long night can I spend it with you
Cause you're oh so pretty when you stand on the edge

Oh little darlin' don't you look charming
Here in the eye of a hurricane
Real or imagined - what does it matter?
Come inside, can I get you to stay?

Oh little darlin' don't you like falling down
Through the sky like a diving plane
Real or imagined - what does it matter?
Come inside, can I get you to stay?

What is life? Only visions
When I die, I'm coming right on back for you
Who am I? An illusion
Would I lie? I'm coming right on back for you

Oh little darlin' don't you look charming
Here in the eye of a hurricane
Real or imagined - what does it matter?
Come inside, can I get you to stay?

Oh little darlin' don't you get lonely
Look in my eyes gimme one more day
Real or imagined - what does it matter?
Come inside, can I get you to stay?

La Belle Fleur Sauvage, to my ears, is the best song on the CD. It is so beautiful and haunting.  This was another track they unfortunately did not perform live until the very end of the tour which abruptly stopped due to the medical emergency.  I hope they play it this time around.  This song is beautiful:

Once he's gazed upon her, a man is forever changed
The bravest men return with darkened hearts and phantom pain
Ages come and go but her life goes on the same
She lives to see the sun and feel the wind and drink the rain

But who is this song about?  Is it about a character in this movie or again is there something more personal about this song?

 La Belle is followed by another fun upbeat track: Fool for Love, which again can be played over and over and they actually made a cool video for the song.  They would also eventually make a video for World Ender.

Songs 8-13 are also amazing and the world of Strange Trails is something you want to hear more and more of. Cursed is also one of my favorite songs on the CD and one I can hit repeat over and over again.

When listening to Lonesome Dreams, my favorite track is In the Wind, I never thought you could find a better closing song to a concept CD than In the Wind. I have been corrected, the Night We Met, the closing track of Strange Trails, is the best way to close a CD that I have ever heard. This track was leaked and stand alone it is amazing. But it is even more powerful when listening to the CD as a whole.

So that would be my other big question.  Due to the Netflix TV show, the brilliant use of The Night We Met has made the song take on a whole new meaning.  To anybody of watched the show: the song is about that dance and that lost opportunity between Clay and Hannah

But is that what the song is really about?  Strange Trails is a concept album.  How did this song fit into the concept of the album?  Again, is there something personal about this song to the band?  So did this song have one meaning and importance on the Strange Trails record that is now completely changed by how it was brilliantly used in the TV show?

The best review that I can give Strange Trails is that the first weekend I had the record I drove from Phoenix to Sedona, AZ. Driving through the deserts, and mountains and red rocks was even more amazing with Lord Huron playing in the background. Their sound so captures the spirit of the West and the best way you can listen to either Strange Trails or Lonesome Dreams is on a long desert western drive. Amazing stuff.

MTV did a story on Strange Trails shortly after its release.  The article contains probably the most information about the record and the band out there and yet it is still filled with mystery.

MTV Article About Strange Trails

Both Lonesome Dreams and Strange Trails are concept albums.  All the songs on each record are related and part of the same story I believe.  Lonesome Dreams is a story in a big world, while I think Strange Trails takes places in a smaller world.  Once again to add to the mystery, my interpretation is that the songs on each album are not chronological to the story they are telling.  Almost a bit like Pulp Fiction.  So each time I have listened to these records, I am trying to pick up clues as to where in chronology these songs belong.  Just another layer of that onion....

Shortly before seeing Lord Huron that second time, I watched a full concert from the same tour on YouTube.  They performed the exact same songs, same order, and the banter between band and crowd was almost exactly the same.  Ben Schneider said nothing more about the songs in the concert before that I watched online than he did at the concert I saw live.  Again, it just adds to the mystery.  There are some clues in the comic book they made of Strange Trails and their are some images and clues in the World Ender and Fool For Love videos but not much.  This is a band whose music I know so well and yet don't know so well.

John Stewart, REO Speedwagon, and Neil Diamond are the records of my early childhood in Levittown, New York.  Pete Townshend is the music of my middle school years and was the gateway to the Who which connects me to family in a magical way.  Del Amitri is the band the defined me and took from high school to adulthood.  Del Amitri was the band of my time at Mary Washington and being single in New York.  Mumford and Sons was the music I matured to.  Lord Huron is the music of my life right now: my middle years, my life in the desert Southwest.

My entire take on Lord Huron and their songs could be 100% wrong.  I am hoping with this next tour there will be some new music and news of a third album.  I am hoping for some more communication between the band on social media and during the actual concert with the audience.  I am hoping that we can get some more behind the music type stuff about these incredible songs.  However, in the meantime the mystery just adds to why this band is so much fun to listen to and follow.  Maybe the answers to my questions have been there all along in a song that was on their first EP:

I can't trust anyone or anything these days if you are who you say you are then show your face. You came out of the ocean like you came out of a dream. Your voice, it sounds familiar but you are not what you seem. All your words of comfort cannot take away my doubt. I've decided if it kills me I'll find out what you're about. I can't trust anyone or anything these days but I know what you want and why. 

Of all the strangers you're the strangest that I've seen. 

I'm not afraid to die. 

I can't trust anyone or anything these days. 

You are not the one you say you are. 

I know enough to say you are not what you claim to be. I've kept close watch upon you and I don't like what I see. I can't escape the feeling that you'll get me in the night. I sleep with one eye open and I'm not afraid to fight. 

Now that I've seen your face, I'm haunted by the letters of your name.

UPDATE:

I saw Lord Huron for the 3rd time this August at the opening of a new venue in Downtown Phoenix called The Van Buren. The amazing Wild Reeds opened for them.  I would put the Wild Reeds as one of the top opening acts I have ever seen live in concert.

They were so good I bought the LP of their latest record after the show.  They are awesome and this is a band to check out.  And they came back out during the Night We Met and did a beautiful harmony with Lord Huron.  As if the song was not amazing enough, having the Wild Reeds come out and sing it with Lord Huron made it all that much better.

But back to Lord Huron.  Despite some volume issues the club was having with the vocals, it was hard to hear Ben, the show was awesome.  But once again, very little interaction between the band and the crowd.  They played 3-4 new songs and didn't even say the name of the song or anything about a new record or what these songs were about.  Even with all the popularity of The Night We Met, they didn't really say anything about the song or 13 Reasons.  My only complaint is that they did not do Ghost on the Shore and She Lit a Fire, two of my favorite songs.  And even after three concerts still no In the Wind, which I really want to hear live.  And once again, I left this show, knowing no more about this band than I did before the show.  3 concerts, endless plays of their music, digging deep online, and yet I know so little about these guys.

Years ago, I had a stage where I would try to video song after song at concerts and then I realized in my taping I was actually missing out on the live experience.  So I have stopped.  But for this Van Buren show, I actually did record the last couple of minutes of The Stranger:

Life Long Del Amitri Fan Reviews This is My Kingdom Now by Justin Currie

In the late 1980's to the mid-1990s I was a big fan of the BoDeans.  I even remember seeing them live at Mary Washington with the Madison Hall crew.  Ironically Dave Matthews opened for them.  Today the situation would be very much in reverse.  Go Slow Down is still one of my favorite records and it is one of those rare records where every song is amazing.  I still use Feed the Fire on my playlists when running.

The problem unfortunately is that in my opinion the BoDeans have consistently put out the same album.  As time moved forward and music changed and my music tastes changed, it seemed every BoDeans album was the same.  As much as I loved the sound in 1993, albums in 2008 and 2010 need to show a bit of change or evolution.  I gave up on new BoDeans music because it was too much of 'every song's the same.'  I think the BoDeans are a perfect example of having a great sound in 1993 but just not moving it forward as often music needs to be.  Their sound has not changed much since that Mary Washington College concert in 1992.

However, maybe I am being hypocritical here.  Take Mumford and Sons.  Sigh No More and Babel are two of my favorite records of all time and they will forever be in rotation or I guess my streaming.  However, when I first heard "Believe" off Wilder Minds I hated it.  It sounded like Cold Play and Sons.  Wilder Minds was a needed album by Mumford and Sons.  As a band, if they were going to continue they could not continue to make the same banjo record, the problem was as a fan, we loved the banjo records.  Wilder Minds is an album that will grow on you and there are some absolutely terrific songs on there including: Ditmas and Just Smoke, even Believe.  However, this CD will never be in rotation as much as Babel or Sigh No More, it will never get a fair shake because it is not a banjo record even though it is ultimately very good.  Mumford and Sons would probably be no more, had they not changed their sound up a bit, but as a fan who wanted another banjo record, it was not an easy sell.

This takes me to my review of Justin Currie's new record This is My Kingdom Now.  This is his 4th solo record.  My rating is a solid B+!  But let me backtrack a bit.

Justin Currie was the lead singer and song writer for one of the most under appreciated bands out there: Del Amitri.  Del Amitri is a band that I discovered in the late spring and early summer as I graduated high school and prepared to enter Mary Washington College as a freshmen.  As I have blogged about before, I have had a life long love affair with the music of Del Amitri.  Waking Hours and Change Everything was the music of my Mary Washington years, and Twisted was the soundtrack of that last summer in Fredericksburg and those commutes into DC.    But I must be honest here: much of my life long love of the music of Del Amitri revolves around three records: Waking Hours from 1989, Change Everything from 1992, and 1995's Twisted and the various B-sides that went with them.  1997's Some Other Suckers Parade is a great album and 2002's Can You Do Me Good, are great records, but never had the impact of the other records.  Some Other Suckers Parade has some great tracks and Can You Do Me Good actually continues to sound better with age and I did not appreciate that record in 2002 as much as I do now, but regardless of how good Some Other Suckers Parade and Can You Do Me Good are, they are not Waking Hours and Change Everything.  And there lies the issue I have with all 4 of Justin Currie's solo efforts.  And this is entirely on me, not on him as an artist.  There is and will always be are part of me that when I hear a Justin Currie solo record or any new Del Amitri material (please please please), that wants/expects a record that sounds like Waking Hours.  There is a part of me that wants the same record that I listened to in Russell Hall as a Freshmen.  The problem is that Waking Hours is from 1989 and it is now 2017.  I can't speak for every Del Amitri fan, but those albums left such a huge impact on me and there is this nostalgia for songs that sound like Hatful of Rain or Surface of the Moon.  So, my point is this, when reviewing any new Justin Currie material there is a big part of me that still wants it to be 1992 and hearing a song like "Learn to Cry" for the first time like I did in the studios of WMWC and my "Fiery New Yorker Radio Program."  However, it is 2017, Justin Currie and Del Amitri can't as artists make the same music from 1992, its almost 30 years later.  I know that, that is why I appreciate what Mumford and Sons did with Wilder Minds, that is why I appreciate Can You Do Me Good so much more in 2017 than I did in 2002.  This is how you don't end up putting out music that sounds exactly the same as all your other music.  But, at the same time, I still long for a record like Change Everything.  So, any review I do of Justin's new music, must be taken with a grain a salt.  That is my bias and a bias I know I have, I understand why I shouldn't and yet I still do.

5 long years after Can You Do Me Good, Justin released his first solo album.  This was a long stretch as a Del Amitri fan to go without new music.  These were the days I wondered if I would ever hear Justin Currie perform new music again.  These were the days I had to deal with the reality that my favorite band was no more and again at the time their last CD Can You Do Me Wrong was not fully appreciated by me.  What is Love For is a brilliant work.  It is perhaps, Justin's best solo album of the four.  However, it is not Del Amitri.  What Is Love For is a very slow dark album.  It is beautiful, it is haunting, but it is at times too dark and slow to be in the heavy rotations that say the songs from Twisted are on my playlists or on mixed tapes.  With that said, the album contains one song that took me back to the early sounds of Del Amitri that I loved so much from Waking Hours and Change Everything.  "Walking Through You" is everything that I loved about Del Amitri and remains one of my favorite songs by Justin whether solo or with Del Amitri.

If all of What is Love For sounded like this, it would have been the Justin Currie record I was hoping for.  There are many beautifully haunting tracks on this record, but there is one more that in my opinion really stands out and it has a Nothing Ever Happens vibe not necessarily in sound, but in message.  And that is the epic track "No, Surrender."

This song is epic.  There is no other way to describe it.

What Is Love For is a terrific record, but I really wished it was more "Walking Through You" in sound than it was.

Of the 4 solo records, I think The Great War had the most tracks that sounded like the old Del Amitri that I loved so much.  "At Home Inside of Me," "Ready to Be" and "Can't Let Her Go Now" have that Change Everything and Waking Hours vibe.  And like "No, Surrender" on the first solo album, The Great War contains another epic track.  "The Fight to Be Human" and it is even better the way it fades right into "Ready to Be."  The Fight to Be Human has that No, Surrender and Nothing Ever Happens manifesto statement brilliance.  Once again epic.  Between these tracks are some very lovely songs, but again more in the vain of the darker songs of What is Love For.  Again, I understand that Justin could not just make a whole record that sounded like 1992 music (just as I can't expect to act or think the same way I did back as a junior at Mary Washington), but in a way those tracks like "Ready to Be" were almost a tease because of how much they reminded me of what I wanted more of.  My biggest disappointment about The Great War was not knowing that there was a deluxe version with a bonus track.  This bonus track is difficult to find streaming, but fortunately is on YouTube.  "In My Heart the War Goes On" in my opinion the best track on the album and it is not on the album.

Had the entire record sounded like this, it would have been the Justin Currie record I was waiting for.  Instead, I got a very good record that was about 1/2 the record I was waiting for that had some tracks that gave me a strong taste of that sound I loved and was missing.  But those tracks in between, were not enough to keep this album in a long rotation in my car or iPOD.  The Great War is a solid CD, but for me it was frustrating in the sense that at times it was everything I had been waiting for in a Justin Currie solo record.  This album was a bit of a tease in that sense.

Lower Reaches, from 2013, is the album that brought Justin Currie back to the states for a tour.  Ultimately, I can't complain about an album that did that.  For all its faults, because of this record, I got to see Justin Currie live in a very small intimate venue right here in Phoenix.  Lower Reaches to me reminded me of the short, catchy songs of Some Other Suckers Parade.  It lacked the epic track that The Fight to be Human and No, Surrender were on the first two solo albums. Lower Reaches is a good album with great songs like Priscilla, Little Stars, Every Songs the Same, and in my opinion the stand out track: Bend to My Will.  Unfortunately, I am not as big a fan of the songs in between.  Again, like the Great War, the songs in between were more the slower songs of What Is Love.  Lower Reaches was a good effort, with 4 great up beat songs, but the rest just slowed down the record to much in my opinion.  Lower Reaches as a whole was played the least of all my Justin Currie solo albums.  Yet with tracks like "Bend to My Will" there was that tease of what I wanted this album to be.

Now between Lower Reaches and This Is My Kingdom Now there have been some big changes in how I purchase and listen to music and that is also something that is going to affect this review and may also effect how I look back on the previous 3 solo records.  I have had an MP3 player for a long time but streaming music and using things like Spotify and Amazon Prime, and Google Play are new for me.  Again, let me back track.  I am a child of the late 70s and early 80s.  I remember albums.  I remember tapes.  I come from an age where you listened to the whole CD or record and often you bought the new album solely based on the artist or group.  I had not heard one track off Change Everything when I bought that CD or tape in 1992.  I bought it simply based on how much I loved Waking Hours.  I bought all of Justin's solo albums because they were Justin Currie not because I had heard any tracks on them prior.  I come from an age where you followed the artist and you listen to entire records.  I work with teens everyday.  I talk to them about music all the time.  That is not how they listen to music.  Very often they don't even buy music.  Up until about two years ago, I actually still bought music.  This Is My Kingdom Now is the first record I have straight up bought in two years.  When I say bought, I actually purchased it entirely online/streaming.  I no longer have anywhere to play a CD.  I wanted to buy the CD, I like holding a CD, I like looking at lyrics and covers, but none of my computers have a drive, and both my cars no longer have a CD Player.  Everything is streamed.  My students, our current young people don't buy music, very often they can't tell you who performs the music, they only know the song, and they certainly could not tell you the name of the album the song comes from or how it relates to other songs on the album.

Take for example Lord Huron's "The Night We Met."  This song is very popular right now because of the TV show 13 Reasons.  Many people know it because of how it was used in the TV show with the two main characters dancing.  Most people don't know who sings it.  Even less realize that it is on a album called "Strange Trails" which is a concept album where all the songs are connected.  "The Night We Met" is the closing track on that album.  The song meaning is so different in the context of the album, but most people who are listening to it have no idea.

With streaming and playlists, I can listen to Justin's solo work very differently now.  I can take those tracks that I love, and there are many, and put them onto one big playlist, which I have, which also has my favorite Del Amitri tracks.  This is new to me.  Again, I was an artist and whole album guy.  Separating these 4-5 tracks from the first three solo records from the other tracks and playing them together or together with older Del Amitri songs, has given me new perspective on the songs and a new appreciation.  We listen to music differently now.  Younger people have known no different, for us older people it has taken some getting use to.  I have an 80 song Justin Currie/Del Amitri playlist on spotify...it is brilliant.  I can listen to it all day.  I don't have to skip or fast forward or sit through anything I don't want to.  This is very new to me.

So when buying and listening to This is My Kingdom Now that is the context.  I have no physical copy of it.  I have it on Amazon and Spotify, but it is probably the first record by an artist that I really love, that I actually do not have an actual copy of the record.

So finally, me review of This Is My Kingdom Now....

First off, I have probably played (streamed) this album more than any of Justin Currie's previous solo records.  So what does that say?  Once again, I feel the record is more Some Other Suckers Parade/What is Love For than Change Everything in tone and song style.  To sum it up: once again a very good album but not the remake of Waking Hours that part of me still wishes for.  Once again there are some excellent tracks with some good tracks in between.  If Waking Hours and Change Everything are A+, I would say This Is My Kingdom Now, like What is Love For and the Great War are solid B+

The opening track: My Name is God is a terrific.  Brilliant way to open a CD.  A great cross between the mellower sound of What is Love For and that great early Del Amitri sound.

The next track "Fallen Trees" is one of the top tracks on the album.  Absolutely brilliant lyrics and sound.  This song will be streamed quite a bit and holds up with the best of Justin's work.

This is My Kingdom Now is a very good song, more in line with what you might have heard on the first solo album

Sydney Harbor Bridge has clever lyrics and again reminds me more of the style and structure of Some Other Suckers Parade.

Crybabies, cute and clever lyrics and in line with Justin's solo work.

Failing to See, is one of the albums highlights with a 70's ish sound that is actually fresh despite sounding 70's ish.  This is a refreshing track and one that will get a lot of replay on my playlist.

 The Dead Sea is hands down my favorite track on the album.  This is up there with the best of Justin's solo work.  This song is as good as any song he has written or performed on any of his solo albums or on any Del Amitri album.  This track has been repeated often and is probably the song  I have played most on the album

Abandoned Sons is a good track but this reminds me of the issues I have had with all 4 of the solo albums. The Dead Sea reminds me so much of that sound that I love and it is followed by a much slower more intense and dark song.  Abandoned sons is similar in sound to the first solo album.  This is a good track, but just slows things down a bit too much for me.

Hey Polly, I Love the Sea, I'll Leave it to You, Two People in my opinion are all good solid songs, but lack the punch of the first few tracks on the album.  So again, this is the issue I have had with all the solo records, and that is the pacing.  I get that song that reminds me of old Del Amitri and I love it and then it is followed by the much slower more introspective sounds of the solo albums.  I like these songs, they are good songs, but I like the sound of Fallen Trees and Dead Sea more.  Those are the solo songs I couldn't wait for.

My Soul is Stolen is a strong way to end the record. Yes, it is more in line of What is Love For, but the placement of this track at the end, ends the record with a strong emotional punch.  However, I wish the record had a "No, Surrender" or "Fight to be Human" like on the first two solo records.  Like Lower Reaches, the new record in my opinion is missing that epic "Nothing Ever Happens" type song.

Had I not been such a die hard Del Amitri fan, I don't know how my review of Justin's solo work would be different.  Would I love the songs and records even more?  Would I love them less?  I am not sure and it would make a great experiment to compare the reviews from those of us who have been fans since the late 1980s to those who are new fans or maybe have never heard Justin's music before.  As I have stated before, I can't fairly review Justin's records.  It is a bit like Francis Ford Coppola.  How can you review any of his movies fairly after the brilliance of Godfather 1 and Godfather 2.  The bar has been set high, maybe too high.

This is My Kingdom now is a solid record.  All of Justin's solo records have been solid.  His voice and song writing is amazing.  However, there is a catch 22.  He is a living breathing evolving artist who continues to write and create.  As an active musician who produces new music, I can't fairly expect him to make the same record every time.  The catch 22 is that there is a part of me that wants that same record and will ultimately be slightly disappointed when I don't get an album full of songs that sound like "Hatful of Rain."  With the exception of Lower Reaches, which I will give a score of a B, all of Justin's solo work in my opinion has been a solid B+  Justin's solo albums have all been very good, but in my opinion none have reached the greatness of Waking Hours and Change Everything. This is My Kingdom now is a B+ in my opinion.  All of the songs are good, there are some songs that are fantastic and among the best Justin has ever written.  I can't say enough about how good "The Dead Sea" is.  I think all of the solo albums have had great songs: "No, Surrender", "The Fight to be Human," "Ready to Be," Every Song's the Same" but as a whole the albums have for me have never reached the level of greatness that Twisted, Waking Hours, and Change Everything did.

I often dream of Mary Washington College and Fredericksburg.  Those years made such a tremendous impact on me.  I do realize that a good part of the Mary Washington and Fredericksburg that I hold so dear is gone and is never coming back.  Mary Washington in 2017 is not the Mary Washington of the early 1990s.  Once I was the student body president who felt the pulse of the campus, today I follow the school on social media and there are things happening on campus that I simply don't understand.  Just as the school is different, I am not the same person in 2017 as I was in 1994.  A 45 year old father with a 10 year old kid who has been in government school classrooms for 22 years straight is not the same kid who yelled from the Madison Hall 3rd story window.  Logically I know that the music of Justin Currie in 2017 can't be the music of 1992.  But just as I dream of Mary Washington I remember from the early 1990s, I also long for that sound of Del Amitri that I was listening to in Russell 2nd South or Madison 3rd Floor.

Though it might not come across this way in this review, I appreciate and love the fact that Justin's music has not stayed the same.  Like the old cliche when breaking up with a girl, when you tell her "it's not you it's me," I think my review of This Is My Kingdom is the same way.  The issue is not the brilliance of Justin's voice and song writing, the issue is my inability to move my taste in music past 1995.

Who is Michael Anderson?

A few years back Justin Currie of Del Amitri played a small gig here in Phoenix.  Del Amitri is different from my other favorite bands.  My all time favorite band is the Who.  I can hear The Who on any classic rock radio, when I see them in concert they are playing an arena with over 10,000 people.  Some of my favorite newer bands : Mumford and Sons and The Lumineers have gotten so big they now also play arenas and huge festivals.  Even Lord Huron, my current favorite band, is constantly gaining popularity and is selling out medium size venues and has really hit it big with their song on the 13 Reasons show on Netflix.  By the way, I called "The Night We Met" the best closing song on an album ever two years ago.  Well, I am going to make the case for perhaps an even better closing song in this blog.  But back to Del Amitri, what is different is that in the states they never got huge.  They were bigger in the UK, but never huge.  Roll to Me is their one major US hit, forever and unjustly labeling them a 'one hit wonder' here in the states.  Most people don't know Del Amitri but thanks to 'Roll to Me' and a loyal fan base there are some fans here.  As obscure Del Amitri may be, they are not unheard of, you can hear many of their songs played as background music when shopping, don't get me going on this, and like I said they are still well known in the UK.  Even though Justin played a very small bar here in Phoenix there was a small but committed turnout of fans and like me they sang the words to pretty much every song.  My point being as obscure Del Amitri might be to the average music listener in the US, they have a pretty decent footprint.  I can talk about them and at least a few people will know who I am talking about.  You can find plenty of videos, old and new, and easily keep up with Justin's solo work or reissues of the great Del Amitri records.  Sometime around 1988-1989, I discovered Del Amitri and the Waking Hours album for the first time.  It was around that same time that I also heard Michael Anderson for the first time, who was coincidentally on the same label as Del Amitri, but unlike Del Amitri, I honestly do not know ANYBODY who has heard of him (outside of my college roommates who heard me play his 'tapes' nonstop at Mary Washington and a few too many ladies at Mary Washington who got a mixed tape with a couple of his songs) and there is still very little information about him both online and on YouTube.  Del Amitri, might not have gone as big they should, but 30 years later I know plenty about them and their story and music.  30 years later, I still know very little about Michael Anderson.

Sometime around 1988-1989 I was at the Walt Whitman Mall in Huntington, New York with my high school buddies.  We were in a Record World.  Does Record World even still exist?  Back in the days when there was at least one record shop in every mall.  CDs were not really big yet.  The front of the store was still LPs.  The back of the store was filled with the increasingly popular cassette tapes.  In the back they also had some TVs where they played music videos.  On this day they were playing Michael Anderson's "Sound Alarm."

Over the years, before Spotify, I have bought a lot of music.  Records, tapes, CDs.  However, in my almost 40 years of buying music there have been very few, minimal, cases of me hearing music at the record store and buying it on the spot.  I was in a Tower Records in Westbury when I heard Terry Garland play the blues for the first time:

I was in a Nobody Beats the Wiz in Huntington Station when I heard the amazing 6th Avenue Heartache and One Headlight and bought one of my favorite albums of all time right on the spot: Bringing Down the Horse by The Wallflowers:

Michael Anderson's Sound Alarm cassette was one of those rare cases of me doing that.  In those days I would hear music on 92.3 K-Rock in NYC or WBAB on Long Island or watch VH-1 or MTV and discover music that way, actually I am pretty sure for a teenager back then it was the only way.  But I bought the tape right on the spot.  At the time, I was in a classic rock and blues phase.  The guitars and harmonicas on this album drew me right in.  1988ish was great year of music for me.  Some of my favorite albums to this day all came out around that time: Robbie Robertson's first solo record, Del Amitri's The Waking Hours, and Michael Anderson 'Sound Alarm'.  30 years later, I have read Robbie Robertson's autobiography and seen the Last Waltz countless times, I have seen Del Amitri live 3 times and thanks to the internet can stay connected with fans and with Justin's solo career.  30 years later, I still know very little about who Michael Anderson.

The Sound Alarm record was in my opinion very blues influenced rock.  One girl who was lucky enough to get a song from this album on a mixed tape from me told me that he sounded like he was trying to be Bruce Springsteen.  I never felt that way, but I could see you putting him in the same rock genre as Bruce or a John Mellencamp.  Heading into the 1990s we entered a time in music where I feel record companies and bands took advantage of fans.  I remember in the early 1990s you could spend almost 20$ for a CD and there would only be one or two good songs on that CD.  This greed and poor project helped lead to the rise of NAPSTER and MP3s.  However, it was not like that in the late 1980s and the Sound Alarm was a perfect example of a record where every single track was awesome.  There was a lot of range and variety on the Sound Alarm record.  There was pure good old guitar and harmonica driven rock in songs like "Until You Love Me," and "Little Bit o'Love."  There was some rock history of blues and Memphis in "Memphis Radio," there was a powerful ballad "Sanctuary" and even a political track about South African Apartheid in "Soweto Soul."

Here is some awesome audio of "Until You Loved Me"

  As I mentioned earlier, Lord Huron's "The Night We Met" is probably one of the best closing tracks on a record ever.  However, Sound Alarm can give Lord Huron a run for the money.  Sound Alarm closes with an absolutely beautiful and stunning track "Time to Go Home."  Why this song has not been in countless films or on soundtracks I will never know.  There is no justice in the music world, that is for sure.  Time to Go Home paints a vivid image and both lyrically and musically is an unforgettable track that is just as powerful when you listen to it today as it was when I first heard it back in 1989 while in high school.  According to Michael Anderson himself, in an email he sent me:

I wrote "Time to Go Home" in the studio while recording the "Sound Alarm" album. It was about my father, who I hadn't seen. Right after that I did go home and see him and we re-established a relationship. It is a very emotional song for me. He died a few years after that and I was always grateful for that song pushing me to see him.

This was a record with great lyrics, raspy vocals, great guitar riffs and old fashioned harmonica.  This was a rock record.

I also noticed on the credits for "Sound Alarm" were several mentions of "The Legendary Buck Silvertone."  Years later I am not quite sure if The Legendary Buck Silvertone is actually Michael Anderson.

I was kinda of by accident that in 1990 while browsing through the tapes at Tower Records in Long Island that I saw that Michael Anderson had released a self-titled second album.  It wasn't until fairly recently thanks to YouTube that I found out there was a video for the song True Love that went with this album.

There are a number of girls who attended Mary Washington who were given a mixed tape by me where I confessed my love through lyrics and music.  I am scared that one of these days someone will find one of these tapes and my linear notes and interpretations that went with it.  Many of these tapes, and there were many, had this song.  "If True Love Were Only for the Innocent, you know I don't qualify."   "My Love is like a Sinner learning to repent."

See, back to my point about Michael Anderson and his music.  I would love to include more lyrics and videos of his songs to go along with this blog, and they simply are not out there.  I originally had both Sound Alarm and the self titled album on cassette tape.  At some point I upgraded to CD, but they are long gone.  A few years ago I found Michael Anderson's website and ordered copies of these CDs, but they don't have the lyrics and thanks to streaming I no longer have any devices that play CDs!

The self-titled album is very different from Sound Alarm.  Michael Anderson on his website I think sums it up best:

"This record was done in Los Angeles with Michael Omartian-bit more polished."

Where "Sound Alarm" was rootsy and raspy, the Michael Anderson album was absolutely more polished.  Pop is not the correct description, it was by no means a pop record, but it is a lot smoother and yes more polished.  There is only one track on the follow up that reminds me of the first album and that is "Slip Away."  Sound Alarm was raw, the follow up was polished.  Despite not having that bluesy rock style I loved so much about the first album, the self-titled album was just as good, but the sound was very different.  Listening to the first tracks of each album: Sound Alarm vs. True Love is a great way to tell how these albums were different.  Once again the lyric were great and there were a variety of songs from the epic "Let It Rain" to the moving song about the sacrifices made by our military in "Heartbeat From Glory."  There was a very jazzy film noirish track "Raymond Chandler Said" and there was a very intense "Flame in the Fire."  But, I really loved how "Slip Away" brought everything back to the Michael Anderson music I initially fell in love with.

I have had a number of articles in the Mary Washington College newspaper during my 4 years there.  Many of the articles got some heated responses both positive and negative.  But for better or worse, most of what I wrote got reaction.  I wrote a very positive review of the self-titled album for the paper and got zero response.  And unfortunately, that is a microcosm of me being a fan of Michael Anderson.  Nobody knows who I am talking about.  I noticed a tweet from a former student of mine talking about 13 Reasons and "The Night We Met."  They tweeted how I used to play Lord Huron in the classroom everyday and now everyone is finally realizing I was correct about how great a band they were.  I also once had a student write an end of the year evaluation of my class and all they wrote about was how I "was right about Mumford and Sons," another band I talk about for months all the time before they got huge.  30 years later, other than a few emails to Michael Anderson himself, there is nobody for me to talk to about this great and powerful music.  The Mary Washington article just adds to the mystery.  I have copies of just about everything I ever wrote for the Mary Washington College Bullet, and yet for some reason my review of the second Michael Anderson album is not there.  To make matters worse, just like Michael Anderson's music, I can't find this article anywhere on the Internet.

Years went by and my musical tastes changed.  The late 90's saw the Wallflowers and Matchbox 20.  The 2000s were dominated and are still dominated by Mumford and Sons, Lumineers, Avett Brothers, and Lord Huron.  The constant in this musical thread are Del Amitri and The Who.  But I always wondered about Michael Anderson.  I never heard of him touring and I never saw or heard any new music.  Well to be honest, I felt like I was the only one who was hearing his music.  Outside of that day at Record World, my car, or my dorm room at Mary Washington: I have never heard a Michael Anderson song anywhere.

With the emergence of the Internet I finally got some clues about Michael Anderson.  He has a website and I learned that he had actually written a number of songs for other artists including "Blame it on Memphis."  It also seemed he had put out a couple of Christian albums.  I also found a lone review of "Sound Alarm" ranking it the #28 Christian Album of all time.

https://greatestchristianalbums.wordpress.com/2010/02/14/28-sound-alarm-michael-anderson/

So, again adding to the mystery about Michael Anderson.  Did he become a Christian artist or was he a Christian artist all along?  Was "Sound Alarm" a Christian Rock Album and I just didn't realize it?  Was the follow-up a Christian album?  Or did he try to rock albums and then turned to Christian rock?  I really don't know.  Again let me back track a bit....

I am not a Christian.  I am a New York Jew.  I don't listen to Christian music.  I had a roommate in college who loved Michael W. Smith and DC Talk and played it in the dorm room all the time, but I tuned it out.  I would never listen to Christian music.  Again, let me back track do I really not listen to Christian rock?  If "Sound Alarm" was really a Christian Rock album that I played for years and didn't realize was a Christian Rock album it would not be the last time it happened.

In 1995 I first heard the song "Flood" by Jars of Clay.  The Jars of Clay debut album was one of my favorite CDs of the that year and of the mid-1990s.

  I must have played that CD for about a year before I realized they were a Christian Rock band.  Fast forward to 2011, I heard "Drive All Night" by Needtobreathe.  I love that band.  I bought the Reckoning, I downloaded songs from before that 2011 release, and I bought the follow-up Rivers in the Wasteland.  I have even seen them in concert.  Once again, I did not realize I was listening to a Christian Rock band.  I had no idea that Needtobreathe was Christian Rock.

  So, if those two Michael Anderson albums were Christian rock, I have a track record of listening to some Christian Rock and not realizing it is Christian Rock.  But ultimately and more importantly good music is good music: That Jars of Clay CD was awesome, NeedtoBreathe is an awesome rock band and I highly highly highly recommend their albums both past and present.  The fact that I am non-Christian and that the Michael Anderson albums may indeed be Christian Rock has no impact on how much I love those two records.  Rock, Blues influenced Rock, Christian Rock, it does not matter, great music is great music.

On Michael Anderson's website there was a book on song writing, a short bio, and a link to a 2015 gospel album:

https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/michaelanderson5

According to his website the album is: " A collection of songs profoundly influenced by the Greater Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church of Los Angeles."

There is also a link to a 2006 collection of songs called "White Trash Shakespeare."  There is a song on that collection called "Temptation (In a Little Black Dress).  Like "Slip Away" this song, to me, reminds me so much of the sound of "Sound Alarm."  This track reminds me of that bluesy rootsy raspy sound that first drew me to Michael Anderson.

What I have not found on the website, or on the internet beyond that #28 Christian Album Review (which is a very informative review), or on YouTube or really anywhere is much about Michael Anderson and those first two albums.  How did he get signed by A&M?  Was he in a previous band?  Was he big in a particular area?  I doubt A&M just handed out recorded deals, so there must be part of his musical story before 1988 that I am missing.  I know "Sound Alarm" was released in 1988 and produced by Terry Manning.  I know the follow up was released in 1990, is self-titled, and was produced by Michael Omartian.  I know both albums were released on A&M records.  I know I love both of those albums very much.  But other than that, I know so little about these great records and the artist.  In 1983, as a little kid I watched an amazing New Year's eve concert by Big Country.  Today, I can go to YouTube and watch that same concert.  When I saw Justin Currie in Phoenix a few years ago, I got to be around fellow fans and got to sing along to all these great songs we all love so much, some of which are close to 30 years old.  I remember watching a lady next to me singing along to "Move Away Jimmy Blue" with tears in her eyes.  It was an amazing moment to sing along live with Justin Currie just a few feet in front of me here in Phoenix over 25 years after I first listened to that song, on tape, driving in my car along Route 110 on Long Island as a high school senior.  I wish I could have that moment where I was at a venue surrounded by Michael Anderson fans with tears in our eyes singing along to "Time to Go Home."  I wish I could go to YouTube and find a Michael Anderson concert from 1990 and watch him perform "Flame in the Fire."

Last October I went to one of the most amazing concerts I have ever been to.  It was the Lumineers, it was a fairly large venue and their was a connection between band and fans like I have never experienced.  Around 2010, I saw Mumford and Sons in a very small venue in Phoenix, just before they blew up big time.  The room held maybe 150 people and the ticket was 10$ bucks.  I remember you could feel it in the air that this band was going to blow up big time, it was electric.  I would see them less than a year later and the crowd went from 150 to 12,000.  In the six times I have been to giant stadiums to see The Who there is a magical connection between the music of The Who and myself, my brother, and my beloved uncle who passed away too soon.  I can listen to Big Country and commiserate on just how good they were, how they were screwed over in so many ways by the music industry and circumstances and how Stuart Adamson is gone too soon.  I can listen to my Del Amitri records and be grateful that I got to see them live 3x before they broke up and that there is such a strong online community of loyal fans to share our love of this band with.  I don't have any of that with Michael Anderson.  Even on Spotify there is very little presence.  There is a small website, a couple of grainy videos online, and my two burned copies of those first two albums.  I would have liked to have done a better job of selling just how good the music is on "Sound Alarm" and the self-titled album by posting lyric videos, and clips, and concert footage.  But I can't find it.  I have mentioned several times just how good "Time to Go Home" is and yet I can't find a single reference or mention of this song online anywhere!  Had I not walked into that Record World at the Walt Whitman Mall on that day or at that time would I have ever known that there was a Michael Anderson?  Would I have ever heard any of his music? How different would those mixed tapes that floated around the girls dorms at Mary Washington sounded between 1990-1994 without "Until You Loved Me" or "True Love?"

I can share my love for The Who with millions, I can share my love for Del Amitri with a small but loyal group of devoted fans on social media.  However, my love of those two Michael Anderson albums has been a solo project.