Album Review: Stan Ridgway & Pietra Wexstun

Priestess Of The Promised Land

I follow the career of Stan Ridgway  in a very off and on fashion.  From my teenage years and Wall Of Voodoo's Mexican Radio to later solo efforts such as Mosquitos.  My relationship, as I said, has been very off and on, with what seems to be bursts of Stan every year or so.  

He's got a style that evokes, to me, images of the dusty west, Johnny Cash, film noir and urban down-on-your luck souls. It always brings to mind the movie Bagdad Cafe. It's probably not fair to sum all his music up in that particular fashion, but when I imagine Stan's music, those are the images associated with it.  Even Stan and Pietra have an online FAQ for the album, which includes the following question:

Are Stan and Pietra opening up a "greasy spoon"diner or "art monster's commune" with old rusty tin tuff sheds out in the harsh hot desert soon? I'll join 'em ! Some old man flagged me down on Interstate 15 and told me they were. I'm hungry and lonely too! 

And that almost perfectly describes the atmosphere of much of Stan's work.  Oh yeah, and their answer?   You'll have to visit their page on Bandcamp to read that. 

I have enjoyed every album I've heard from Stan Ridgway, but some are definitely better than others.

Last week, Stan Ridgway and his wife Pietra Wexstun released their new album, Priestess Of The Promised Land.  Forgive me in advance for perhaps not giving Pietra her due throughout this review.  I'm not nearly as fluent in her music as I am Stan's.  But when it comes to this album, it's important to know she deserves credit as well.  She has her own band, Hecate's Angels, which I'm not familiar with (yet).  You can check out her work here.

A short discussion on methodology.

Whenever I listen to an album for my own enjoyment there are four primary things that I listen to/for.   First is, obviously, the music itself.  

Secondly, the vocal quality, which is not always the quality of the singing, but the feeling in the vocals.  This is hard to enumerate, but while Adele has a superb and pitch perfect voice, the same cannot be said for Roger Waters or Leonard Cohen -- yet I very much appreciate their vocals.  

Third, the lyrics.  Lyrics that move me (Leonard Cohen and Roger Waters!) can make the album. They do not always have to make sense, but whether they evoke imagery or emotions that appeal to me is the measure by which I judge them.  

Finally, the recording quality.  There are some extremely good songs that have been ruined by poor recording quality (thinking The Neighbourhood's Female Robbery). 

I try to listen to an album at least 4 times to determine whether or not I like it.  There are, obviously, songs that don't strike you at first, but after a few listens suddenly become a song that gets stuck in your head.   In my opinion this is a reflection of the complexity of music. 

Finally, The Album

My initial impression of the album was that it was classic Stan Ridgway.  There's no mistaking his voice or his style.  I suspect that if Stan wrote music/vocals for another artist that I would be able to pick it out, even if their singing style was nothing like Stan's.  I'm just boasting so lets not test that theory -- I just like to think it's true.  

Having said that, the sound was very comfortable to me, and I could slip right in to that mood of some of his other solo albums (Snakebite and Black Diamond come to mind).  I suppose that helped me immediately enjoy the music overall.  That doesn't mean there aren't songs that will need to grow on me (Blue Oceans At Dusk, Boozehole and Nightworld are the most obvious), but the song Priestess Of The Promised Land was a song that was immediately Stan and I know that it's going to end up on my playlist, along with She's Wearing You Down.

The vocals are typical Stan.  There's not much to say about that.  If you've heard Stan Ridgway, you know what he sounds like, and this sounds like him.  His voice hasn't suffered with age like other artists (again, Roger Waters?) and the songs would sound right at home with 1989's Mosquitoes.

Lyrically, it's also typical Stan.  It evokes images of the west, desert colors and small town simplicity. They highlight the small moments in life such as "her car window rolls down, her hand makes a wave, and she's wearing you down," which capture moments that we all immediately understand and likely relate to. 





This finally brings me to the recording quality.   I reached out to Stan and had asked what equipment was used in the recording of this album, but have yet to receive a response.  Should I receive one, I'll update it here. 

This is of particular interest because I believe it's self produced and I must say that the quality is superb.  The music itself is heavy on acoustic instruments and avoids being too heavily layered.  This is music that wouldn't sound much different at all if performed live and "unplugged."   The vocals were clean and clear, and the guitar didn't sound too large on the sound-stage.  Rather it's mixed properly in a way that makes the guitar match the size of the vocals. Other instruments in the mix are appropriately sized.  Far too many recordings these days sound like a vocal with a 10-foot-tall guitar.  Scaling of the individual instruments is important to me.

If you want a great album to show off your high end stereo?  This should go on your short-list -- especially for anyone who is already a fan.

In summary, I can recommend this album for anyone who doesn't know Stan as a good starting place to learn his music although Mosquitoes might be the better choice (I haven't listened to it in a very long time and can't comment on recording quality).

If you're a Stan Ridgway fan, then what are you waiting for?  You will not be disappointed at all. 

The album is not released on any medium other than digital download (available in FLAC and 320kbps mp3).  Stan and Pietra indicate that this is because:

The current industry climate for manufacturing such items and recouping the costs is hard for all music makers at this time. They love physical albums too but right now its a a bit dodgy on the "making money back" part. Stan and Pietra have chosen this digital release strategy for the time being. 

I listen almost exclusively digitized music, so this doesn't bother me at all.  While you can listen to the music online, please consider giving the artists what you think the album is worth.   The distribution site lets you choose how much you would like to give the artists.  If you like it, be generous.  It's hard to make a living out there, even for well established musicians.   Besides, I want them to make enough money to open that greasy spoon.

You can purchase the album on BandCamp at the following URL:

Priestess Of The Promised Land - 2016 - bandcamp