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