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.....
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.
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:
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:
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:
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.
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.
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:
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
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
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
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
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
Headin' out into the unknown
Well if there are strangers, and all kinds of danger
Please don't say I'm going 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".
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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?
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?
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:
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
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
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
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?
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?
Through the sky like a diving plane
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
