SidGriffin.com - Sid Griffin Solo

Bucketfull of Brains 2006
The Observer Music Monthly 21 November 2005	Classic Rock December 2005
Click here for Maverick review, December 2005 (right-click to download).
NetRhythms: Current Album, DVD, Book and Gig reviews November 2005 Sid Griffin - As Certain As Sunrise (Prima) Only his second solo album in over eight years, while a banjo occasionally plinks the former Long Ryder and current leader of the Coal Porters steers largely away from the latter outfit's acoustic bluegrass. Indeed, it's his affection for the 60s that seem to bubble up most on this often revealing glimpse into his personal life. His cover of the Flaming Groovies' You Tore Me Down actually sounds like something from the Peter & Gordon catalogue, the spirit of Glen Campbell's work with Jimmy Webb informs Alibi Bye and the light jazzy Bluebird whereas the gentle Latin flavours of Evidence with its acoustic Spanish guitar calls to mind a cocktail of Jose Feliciano, Bacharach and the Brill Building. Elsewhere old school shuffling folk pop scuffs its shoes through Wearing Out My Welcome With The Blues, Everly country is revisited of Faithless Disciple while Greenwich Village coffee houses flavour the memories of Tell Me You Still Sing where he recalls a guy from the old school days band that's lost his guitar and found God. Keeping tabs on the era, he's even covered the TexMex pop swaying Just Let Her Go a hitherto unreleased song by the late Doug Sahm, featuring Ian McLagan on keyboards. He also digs back into protest folk to revisit I Come And Stand At Every Door, the haunting poem about Hiroshima written by Turkish poet and set to music by, among others, Pete Seeger and The Byrds. Unfortunately, having it spoken in Japanese while he sings in the background was probably a better idea in theory than it is in practice. That small blip aside, this is unquestionably Griffin's best work to date, even managing to avoid maudlin sentimentality in the bittersweet poignancy of a parent's love and hopes for the future Written Upon The Birth Of My Daughter. That song also provides a perfect thematic bookend to the album's best cut, the opening The Last Kentucky Waltz's story about a couple desperately praying for a child that will keep them together. It's a bright new dawn. www.sidgriffin.com Mike Davies
The Sun Friday, October 28, 2005
MOJO - December 2005	Rob Hughes Uncut - December 2005
COUNTRY MUSIC PEOPLE/NOV 2005 ALBUM REVIEW/TOBLER SID GRIFFIN As Certain As Sunrise Prima SID 018 (44.11) ***** Having been a fan and friend of Sid Griffin for over a decade, it would be fair to say that sometimes in past reviews of his work, my criticism may have been tempered because he’s a good bloke, but this time, there’s no need to do other than tell the whole unvarnished truth. This is arguably the best album he’s made to date, and there must have been around a dozen counting Long Ryders, Coal Porters, Western Electric and solo. This one is solo, and Sid is assisted by a basic band of his right hand man, Pat McGarvey, on bass and banjo, Wes McGhee on guitar and piano, and Mrs.Griffin (aka Kate St.John) on woodwinds, plus others who make occasional appearances. ‘Last Kentucky Waltz’ starts like ‘Mr.Bojangles’, and is somewhat wistful. It seems to be about the problems a couple experienced when they are, as they say, trying for a baby. It seems fairly downbeat for an opening track, although there’s probably a good reason for it being the opener. There are three cover versions on this album, and the first is ‘You Tore Me Down’, written and recorded by The Flamin’ Groovies and included on their ‘Shake Some Action’ album, which has just been released on CD at last, almost 30 years after the Dave Edmunds-produced LP. Sid’s version starts just like it’s The Byrds, and it’s an excellent choice, with an effective accordion riff (seemingly uncredited). ‘Lost In This World Without You’ is a love song, probably to Kate, and it’s quite subdued, mature and a touch verbose, but still most acceptable. ‘Alibi Bye’ is a pleasant play on words, and contains a line about “Said I needed a shoulder to cry on, I looked at yours, it was already cried on”. The lyrics are not included in the booklet, perhaps because they are perfectly audible and also maybe because they’re possibly rather personal, like on ‘Evidence’, a wistful song of regret which put me in mind of Jackson Browne (major accolade !) ‘Where Bluebirds Fly’ is another wistful one, with Wes McGhee playing fine guitar fills, than there’s the second cover, a previously unknown Doug Sahm song titled ‘Just Let Her Go’, on which erstwhile Small Face/Face Ian McLagen plays organ, and a couple of Coal Porters also help out, with Neil Robert Herd’s six string bass making an impression. This isn’t a great song but discovering a new song by the late Texas Tornado is probably a good thing. One of my favourite tracks here is the curiously titled ‘Wearing Out My Welcome With The Blues’, a jogalong cowboy song which is regretful, and ‘Faithless Disciple’ sounds like a rewrite of ‘Man Of Constant Sorrow’, but why not ? The final cover is ‘I Come And Stand At Every Door’, a song from the ‘Fifth Dimension’ album by The Byrds, and while Sid and Co. sing the refrain, a Japanese man talks in French, a bit like that Simon & Garfunkel thing where they have a newscast spoken over ‘Silent Night’. ‘Tell Me You Still Sing’ seems to be addressed to someone in one of Sid’s first bands – “whenever we played Elvis, it sounded like The New York Dolls”. This review must end here. Believe me, this is a remarkable piece of work, with Sid stripped to the bone. You may never hear an album as honest (or as tragic) as this. John Tobler