DEREK DEPRATOR & THE ATOMIC
CRASH
When the
train left the station
One-sided LP, Dhyana
This record contains various debuts in itself and as it comes from
Dhyana-record it has turned out really special and beautiful. And is so
good, it’ll get a “highly recommended” from me. But let’s take one
step after the other. “When the train left the station” is Derek
DePrators debut-album. At first that statement might seem like a strange
notion, actually, because it is a one-sided vinyl-lp with seven songs on it,
which to some people might not count as a full album (especially in our
times of CDs, where everyone thinks they have to put at least 70 minutes of
music on each and any release). Moreover, the 3”-CD on Ouzel-records also
had five songs (and some fragments) on it. On the other hand, the 3”-CD is
very different from the recordings on this album. Instead of the
clandestine, drunken songwriter, recording straight to four-track,
desperately waiting to be discovered by true fans and singing his heart out
in the meantime, on this album you’ll get a much cleaner, fuller sound.
Derek DePrator has brought the full band, The Atomic Crash, in various
formations (all in all ten people, among them Thomas O. Huber, who might be
known to the Glitterhouse-crowd out there) into various studios to record
songs that stand as such.
And the songs go over a great variety of emotions and atmospheres,
without ever losing that earthbound, alternative-country (callitwhatchalike)
feeling and a certain rocking twang. From the straight forward opener “How
great it is”, that drives down the long and winding road between (rocking)
Jayhawks and Ragged Glory to the more country-esque and stripped down to the
bones “Daddy’s not coming home”. The latter song also shows the
strange sense of humour of DePrator, because Daddy ran off with a whore from
Chicago, but it all seems to turn out good in the end, even though the
“folk singer gone berserk”-style of vocals on this song may hint at
other, implied endings. A songtitle like “All my friends (come from broken
homes)” will also give you a sense of what DePrator likes to sing about.
To put another edge on it, this song has a happy and youthful melody in
contrast to the grave and dire issue.
Close to the end of the record “Alone” gives you a definite
honky-tonk feeling, changling and jingling piano and the slightly distorted
voice of DePrator reminding me of David Bowie at times. But I took to many
pills in my life to have a good memory of anything. In some songs the vocals
remind me of either Arcwelder or Rein Sanction, though I wonder if many
people except me remember those bands. (Then I remember, that the singer of
Arcwelder used to remind me of Peter Gabriel at times, now what does that
make of me?) The apt album-closer is “It’s time to say goodbye”, which
reminds me even more of Bowie during his Ziggy Stardust-phase, but with
enough originality and country-wisdom to make this a unique and great song.
In concerts, I guess, this one could be dragged out to ten minutes of
length, made really bombastic and a great ending to any show. In between
there is “This could change a million lives” as a personal highlight of
mine, since DePrators and Huber’s wailing guitar-duelling sound like good,
old Giant Sand,
and that is a compliment I do not often share.
But also, a lot of compliments go to Dhyana-records (again), because once
more they have proven that style and good ideas come way long before profit
and sales-power of a record. The seven songs are all on one side of this
vinyl-album, and the cover is silk-screened to the other side. Way to go,
for the debut-country-record on Dhyana records. Together with William
Elliott’s Withmore’s “Hymns for the hopeless” this is my favourite
country-record at the beginning of 2004. I have listened to it almost every
day now for some weeks and it has grown on me so much I started to play
along on my guitar. Ain’t that something.
