Big Wreck - Ghosts - Diamonds

Swelling up with a measured Page-Midnight Moonlight-like strum introducing the haunting melody line, Diamonds is all about mood and emotion. Haunting turns upbeat as the bright counter melody takes hold. A real classic English countryside vibe. As the track builds toward the chorus with all the nice chiming guitars, then various percussion, tabla, sticks and a sinewy eastern sounding slide guitar all coalesce to set up the change. 

Huge drums, almost military cadence and the plaintive slide line, now massive like only Ian can do, dominates!  The chorus is MEGA! The melody is reminiscent of Ian Anderson from Thick as Brick's Skate Away. It undulates while climbing triumphantly yet pulls up just short to tease the next verse. 

The lyrics speak of longing for a deeper relationship, or lost connection. An admission of weakness, a plea for understanding and a wonder at love's loyalty. All expressed with a loving, longing, yearning which is made manifest in the thick slide line.

The beat skips along and tumbles down as the chorus become immense. Like a diamond, whose quality only reveals itself as a refraction of pure light, the protagonist, in recent darkness acknowledges his separation from the source and longs for understanding. The melody beautifully embodies the sentiment. You WILL find yourself singing along.

The solo is pure Ian Thornley at his most magical slide best! If you liked the slide work in Albatross or Under the Lighthouse, this showcases it to a whole new level. Somehow the sound combines the Hibernian and Middle Eastern styles at once. Bagpipes and violins; BOY would I love to hear an orchestral arrangement of this!

A rousing, triumphant chorus concludes and then the coda walks us off in percussion and guitar chords droning on into the distance, setting up a reprise of the slide's haunting moan. Like a bestial bellow over a far away hillside the melody reverberates. It touches the heart like nothing Ian has done to date. This track is a classic beauty.

Diamonds

So I don’t have it all together

When was your first clue

What ever happened to

The part of me

That used to do?

I’m standing by the water’s edge

And leaning forward

I could use your hand

I’ll never ask again
But just this once

Could you pretend, oh

But lately there’s no give or take

With darkness in the way

The sparkling of a diamond

Has to vanish in the shade

It’s my way

And you stay with me still

So I don’t have it all together

All the reasons why

I’ve only just begun

To show you how

To come undone

The future seems a tad uncertain

One must watch their step

Don’t go too far
I’ve always tried to grow, alone

But not apart, oh

But lately there’s no give or take

With darkness in the way

The sparkling of a diamond

Has to vanish in the shade

It’s my way

And you stay with me still

Big Wreck - Ghosts - Come What May

Come What May, slashes where the Canadian single Ghosts, glides. Like bookends on the album's stylistic forays, they frame the range of approaches on this magnificent effort.

The opening sounds like a tighter, less bombastic Foo Fighters riff. Then it takes on a bit of the Police. Ian dabbled with a Police-ish feel on Tiny Pictures' Man Overboard, but it felt caught between Big Wreck's heavy pacing and that punk Police clip. CWM has finally figured out that formula. The chord progression is VERY Andy Summers. Even the that baseline has that Synchronicity feel. Big Wreck are again mining the very BEST of the 80's in this track. It is also one of those tracks that displays the lineage between the roots rock of Springsteen, the poly rhythms of the Police and the frenetic drive of the Foos.

When I first heard this I played it like 10 times in a row. It's so bouncy and energetic! Certainly the fastest Big Wreck track to date. It has an almost punk pace.

As spare and tight as the guitars are, the bass is full and meaty and drives the track. Chuck is channeling pure Stuart Copeland in both style and swing. It swells full in the chorus and an audience of Ian's joins in to "Throw myself in the river!" It gets sooo full that I can almost hear Sprinsteen's Roy Bittan piano chops banging out in the background!

That back and forth between tight and explosive only lays more distance between in the second section. The guitars go totally tight slash as Ian sings 

I'm fed up with the pace of saving face

I'm squeezing what I can't replace

Squeezing what he considers the precious parts of life… until they are missing pieces… again. Squeeze tight until it releases… and oh it does. The chorus is amazingly cathartic! The bass and drums pound it out and Ian throws in one of his great tumble down bumble bee accent runs that we all love. As we all long for deliverance and Ian pleads to be baptismally cleaned in the river… we are pleading for a signature solo to carry us off…. but not this time…. it's a sweet cup of Ian a cappella that would make the Beach Boys proud!  What a way to end a track!

Surprise! An 8 count and the chorus slams back in! So DAMNED EXHILARATING!

Come What May

Break off a little piece of happiness

No body gets hurt more or less

Whatever it takes to get you through

The night is gonna have to do

Under the weight of daily bread

You'd rather wake to cake instead

Would you believe a photograph

Was all it took and all that's left

Of missing pieces

I throw myself in the river

I need to wash my head and float away

'Cause I know that I'll be delivered

Everything cast adrift

Come what may

I'm fed up with the pace of saving face

I'm squeezing what I can't replace

Fiddled with the fire 'til I got burned

With all I've lost you'd think I'd learned

By missing pieces

I throw myself in the river

I need to wash my head and float away

'Cause I know that I'll be delivered

Everything cast adrift

Come what may

I throw myself in the river

I need to wash my head and float away

Because they told me that I'll be delivered

Everything cast adrift

Come what may