Blessed Light - Love Lights the Way
(Mill Pond)
This is the debut full-length from the latest project from North Bend (Western Washington) native Toby Gordon, love child of '70s Christian hippies/folk musicians Linda and Jim Gordon and former leader of '90s indie guitar band Delta Haymax (who released a brilliant self-titled album on Tooth & Nail in 1997 and promptly disappeared). Opener "Suzanne Sunshine" has a laid-back 70s AM-radio sunshine-pop vibe with a memorable melody not unlike Graham Parker's solo material, although, at six minutes, it's a bit lengthy for FM-radio airplay. Gordon's nasally, raspy twang on "Great Northern" reminds me of Parker's fellow angry young man, Elvis Costello, before he discovered Burt Bacharach and ruined his once-promising career. "My Beloved," Gordon's histrionic attempt at the blues, however, is both awkward and annoying (and, at six minutes, way too long), bordering on the sound of John Lennon rehearsing for his next Primal Scream therapy session.
Maria Leon Guerrero's charming harmonies and infectious keyboards, particularly on "Something More," keep things moving at a sprightly pace, and Gordon's trebly BIG-guitar sound demonstrates an ample agility on the six-string. The tear-jerking romantic ballad "Battlefield Figurine" will send even the most jaded and thick-skinned pragmatists to sleep clutching their teddy bears for support. "Ancient One" can't decide whether to borrow its opening from Yes ("Roundabout") or Boston ("More than a Feeling"), so it abandons both directions and settles instead for a bland paean to love, harmony, and other assorted hippie-shit platitudes. Yuck!
Matters improve greatly with "Texas Songbird," a nice country-rock sing-along which wouldn't have been out of place on the Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo or Parker's current masterpiece, Your Country. "Angel of the Air" pays another visit to Snoozeville, despite featuring the album's loudest guitar solo—which sounds amazingly like David Gilmour's runs on Obscured by Clouds' "Free Four." But then "Love Vibes" reconvenes everybody for a group hug as it soars majestically heavenward on the wings of doves.
So while it is, at times, twee and overly sappy, Love Lights the Way is mostly an uplifting collection of lightweight, happy, country pop-rock that'll put a smile on your face and an extra hop in your step. I recommend it to fans of Parker's solo material, John Hiatt, Blue Rodeo, and recent alt.country releases from Gorky's Zygotic Mynci (like the "Sleep" half of Sleep/Holiday) and Asteroid #4 (Honeyspot).
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