By: David de Young
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Ben Connelly performed at his CD Release Party for "You Burn Hotter" Sunday at the Bryant Lake Bowl in Minneapolis. Photo by David de Young (click for full size version.)
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Was it procrastination that kept me from getting this review online? (It's Wednesday already.) Or did I simply needed the time to soak it all in? I've listened to Ben Connelly's new CD "You Burn Hotter" (AC/DC Records, 2003) no fewer than a dozen times start to finish since Sunday, and with each listen I hear something new. I'm impressed. Really, really impressed.
Sunday night is my reflective, spend time with myself time. I normally stay away from the rock shows and don't even listen to Minnesota Music or KQ Homegrown live. Instead, I tape them instead for listening later in the week. But prompted by a friend who was really itching to see a show Sunday, Connelly's CD Release show at the Bryant Lake Bowl was the obvious show that came to mind. But how stuff you're meant to do creeps from the back of your mind to manifesting itself in your life is a fascinating process that I'm not going to talk about here.
After setting my VCR set on Extended Play to record the evening of radio, I headed to the BLB. (In case you ever need to do a bunch of uninterrupted high quality stereo audio, remember you can fit six hours of stuff on a single video cassette.)
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Opener Joanna James right, performs "Ride" with the help of Lizzy Brown, in backgrounleft. (click for full size)
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James is a Morrissey fan apparently, and also a big fan of 7th chords, especially the major kind. Her red Rickenbacker, which she played when not playing her acoustic was shiny and new. Her enjoyment of her own playing made it easy for audience members to do the same. For her song, "Ride," James was joined by Lizzy Brown, who will provide additional vocals for her CD expected in the spring of 2004. One song "That's How Much I Love You" was kind of Indigo Girly, and was dedicated to keeping the memory of the departed alive with a nod to the late Paul Wellstone. James will be at the Fine Line on November 10th.
Ben Connelly made it clear from his first song that he's not messing around. I hope what I mean by that will be clear by the end of this review. Connelly's opening song, the short, slow killer "Keep Dreaming Sleep" from his new CD nearly knocked me out of my chair there in the front row. It was as if there was some sort of fire burning inside Connelly that came to the surface during his performance of this song. There seemed to be a reason why this song was first in his set (it's 9th in the album sequence.) In one sense, it seemed like this song was all he really had to prove and could have ended the show right then and there when he was done. I don't recall ever having this sort of experience during the first song of a show before.
Connelly was on MPR's Word of Mouth on Friday to talk about his new CD, "You Burn Hotter" and promote for tonight's CD release party. If you tuned in you might have caught a bit of Connelly's "The Lord is Coming," a bluesy spiritual nearly as funny on one level as it is angry on another. Connelly's guitar picking on this song is so out of control that the line "I've got lightening in my hands" could easily apply to Connelly himself. As the song ends with God saying, "I'm taking the Mormon's with me, the rest of you can go to Hell" it's only funny on the surface. As with most all of Connelly's songs, what you hear at first listen isn't necessarily what's going on.
"Never Really Yours" (with opening lyrics "I'd say she's 19, she dresses like she's 9, and smokes as if she just turned 44") came next. This song has deservedly been getting a lot of radio play lately, notably on Cities 97's Minnesota Music. (I emailed Jason Nagel when I got home from Connelly's show to tell him how outstanding it had been, and that makes me wonder if it was more than coincidental that he played this song about 10 minutes later. Let me say this: if you want an example of mature songwriting, or if you don't know what mature songwriting is, take a listen to "Never Really Yours." Connelly's outstanding musical ability allows him to put so much more into a song than immediately meets the ear. There's spookiness beneath the surface here that can raise goose bumps if you're receptive to it. In his songwriting are elements of Paul Simon and Leonard Cohen at their best.
"Door to Door Again" brought back memories of Steeplejack, the band Connelly cut his teeth with through a good part of the 90's. But that's about where the comparison's end. Connelly was drinking tea tonight, which he said might surprise people who used to come see him when he was with Steeplejack.
"Raise Your Eyes" was dedicated to Paul Wellstone. "Hopefully it will inspire us all to help other people," Connelly said, adding that he hoped it would at least have that affect on him.
Another mark of songwriting quality is when songs seem personal and passionate even when written from something other than the songwriter's perspective. Speaking to this, Connelly introduced the next song, "Hi Hidee Hi" from his previous release, "Big Red Throbbing Heart," (AC/DC Records, 2001) by saying "This song is proof that all my work is fiction."
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Maleck Davis joined Connelly on percussion for several songs Sunday evening. (Click for full size.)
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Maleck Davis, Steeplejack drummer who also guests on Connelly's new CD, joined him for the next few songs, "I Want To Believe," "It feels like Flying," (probably my all time favorite from the new release, if I had to pick one), "On the other Side" and "And It's You."
"Pocket Watch" which came was another song from Big Red Throbbing Heart. I noted during this song that Connelly's facial expressions are extremely varied and not to be trusted. As a consummate showman—something he was already honing when I saw him with Steeplejack 10 years ago—Connelly has the ability to perform personal songs without letting on. It follows, of course, that he's also quite capable of performing fictitious songs as if they were personal.
Connelly said that one kind of song you find in the songwriting books is the "hot girl in church" song, and that the next song was one of those.
That song was Evangeline, in which again there's an underlying tautness and intensity as bone-chilling as many of the songs on Lou Reed's 1990 Andy Warhol tribute album "Songs for Drella." Even as the bowling terminology ("your small ball falls on polished lanes / smile while you spare or gutter laughing") in this song seemed ironic at the Bryant Lake Bowl, it was obvious that these songs are serious and you'd be wise to listen.
"Heaven Hello" is another song from BRTH that you can download in its entirety from Connelly's website with more virtuoso fast picking at the end.
For a set closer Connelly said he wanted to play a song about being dead. Why? "Because it's my show." The song was "The Undertaker's Overtaken Me." Not a celebration of death so much as a celebration of truth Connelly said. The next day while I was taking my walk along through the fallen leaves along the banks of the Mississippi a lone hearse passed me on the parkway prompting me to happily start singing this song to myself in my head as I walked. Connelly walked off stage as he concluded the stage, and an un-amplified "Thanks a lot" was heard from the back of the room as it ended.
The applause was as thunderous as any I've heard in the BLB Theater, and an encore or two were clearly called for. One was a sing-along called "Valentine," with the lyric "Honey I can stay sober all day for you, but when the evening comes….."
Connelly's final song was appropriately "You Burn Hotter," the title track from his new CD.
This was a tremendous release show, and Connelly's new CD is frighteningly good. Not much can happen in the next 9 weeks that will keep "You Burn Hotter" from a spot on my short list of the best Minnesota CD's of 2003. Connelly heads off for a tour of the East Coast next month.
Location Info:
Bryant Lake Bowl
Artist Info: Ben Connelly, JoAnna James
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