Seatrain - Marblehead Messenger (1971)
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Artist: Seatrain
Album: Marblehead Messenger
Released: 1971
1992 CEMA/One Way Records
Genre: Folk/Country Rock
Review:
Track listing: 1) Gramercy; 2) The State Of Georgia's Mind; 3) Protestant Preacher; 4) Lonely's Not The Only Way To Go; 5) How Sweet Thy Song; 6) Marblehead Messenger; 7) London Song; 8) Mississippi Moon; 9) Losing All The Years; 10) Despair Tire.
Try as I might, I still can't get into this one. It also did pretty bad on the charts - much worse than Seatrain - and not only because they didn't care to select one song with hit single potential, but simply because, in order for your effort to register on the roots-rock scale in 1971, it had to be goddang good, and Marblehead Messenger just isn't. Three things elevated the previous effort: an experimental quality to much of the material; Rowan's balladeering skills; and Greene's really swell violin playing. In dire contrast, Greene's violin is very much neglected on here, mostly relegated to support role throughout (when he does get a chance to shine, he shines - but looks like they were too afraid of being singled out as "that one band with a virtuoso violin player" or something, the bums); Rowan suddenly abandons "hooky" material and concentrates on more traditional and generic forms, just about totally trashing his aspirations as a serious songwriter; and the experimental quality is gone almost entirely.
Which is why, I guess, the ending "suite" 'Despair Tire' almost sticks out like a sore thumb - it's a lot of fun, but it hardly fits in with the rest of the material. It's a collective band effort, really just a violin-led mighty jig, but interspersed by half-spoken, half-drunken-rambled vocals carrying across a largely nonsensical message. It's notorious for pure novel value and pure comic entertainment, and it does have the best violin parts on the album, want it or not. But it's kinda uncomfortable that the best track on the entire record be a pure goof-off - and yet, what else can I do if nothing registers on the memory-o-meter?
And you know why is it like that? Because there ain't one truly creative melody throughout. All these guys do on here is rape and plunder the standard folk and country formulae, without even bothering to make 'em fun or anything like that. And the songs drag on and on, forcing you to tolerate sounds and textures you're probably already well-saturated with. The lyrics are good, I give you that: Jim Roberts (the band's official lyricist) is, at this time, arguably the most interesting person of all of them. I mean, 'Protestant Preacher'? That song's great - as far as the pessimistic religious message is concerned! 'In a land so rich, in a land so strong/ You'd think we'd have the time by now/To tell right from wrong'. Melodically, though, it's basically a generic drag, poorly sung and uninterestingly arranged, although Greene still shines through with one of his unbelievable solos.
Elsewhere, the band suddenly decides to be a clone of Fairport Convention, singing ye olde time sendups like the title track... okay, I like Fairport Convention, and I actually find 'Marblehead Messenger' to be among the more decent tracks on here. But we've already got one Fairport Convention, and if I wanna listen to this kind of music, I'll go straight to the better source. 'Gramercy' is more of the same, only slower and draggier. 'London Song', probably written by Kulberg and Roberts during their London sessions for Seatrain (maybe not), is a confessional ballad/rocker that sports a grand total of zero personality - geez, maybe if these guys at least had a unique singer to breathe life into these forgettable verses... In the meantime, Rowan now limits himself to thinking of "authentic" lyrics to straightforward country waltzes like 'Mississippi Moon' (actually, a "highlight" on here - and again, due to the work of Greene, whose fiddle is, of course, a tremendous asset for these waltzes). And keyboardist Lloyd Baskin emerges as an independent songwriter, penning the slightly less formulaic 'Lonely's Not The Only Way To Go', a bit of a "country meets R&B" hybrid that at least has some energy.
All in all, it looks like Seatrain just had one really good album in them, and having blown their wad on that one, retreated to mere professionalism. I'm not really knocking this stuff... well, I am, but then again, it's not quite clear what exactly they had in mind while recording Messenger. Seeing as how the band just fell apart very soon after its release (with two of the most important members, Rowan and Greene, deserting in particular), I wouldn't be surprised if I'd learn that the band just didn't gel too well in the studio during the recording. Well, they did gel as far as playing is concerned, but the songwriting... uh, don't remind me. Maybe they were going for a "soulful" vibe or something like that, believing they could substitute "passionate", "authentic" vocal deliveries for original songwriting and present their own unique spiritual take on folk and country. Personally, I don't feel any uniqueness here.
In the end, I only recommend this for serious aficionados of the genre, and only if you've already fallen in love with Seatrain. If anything, it's a sad reminder that some bands - even some good bands - weren't totally forgotten in the public conscience for nothing. After all, they did have a chance to capitalize on the minor success of the 1970 album, and they blew it so openly.
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