When I was twelve, I remember finding a big box of old photographs and cards in the street waiting to be taken to the dump. I took the box home and went through the whole thing slowly, getting to know a couple generations of this family’s history. It was a more intimate look that I was ready for and I quickly brought the box back outside.
Listening to Ed’s Redeeming Qualities records is something like getting a close look at someone else’s life, in that the details seem too precise not to be true. In "Big Black Bag," Carrie Bradley sings, "Bus comes, she gets on, she forgets her new big black bag." It goes on to list the items left in the forgotten bag, including "half a cheese and celery sandwich, her brand new brassiere, (and) a signed hard-cover copy of 'Trout Fishing in America'," amongst other things. A guy comes along and takes the bag, eats the sandwich and keeps the book. The clerk at the police station takes the brassiere and when the woman comes to pick up her bag, "The inside is hot from the hands of strangers."
Their fourth and newest record, At the Fish & Game Club, is the best produced and most rewarding Ed’s record to date. The songs combine the sad with the humorous in such an endearing way. There’s still a primitive element to some of the music, although after five years of playing with the current line-up, they’ve learned to arrange very efficiently and effectively as a trio.
The songs are a mix of those of Bradley, Dan Leone and former member Dom Leone, who died of cancer in 1989. His spirit is very much alive here, having penned five of the fourteen songs on the album which are sung, mostly, by newest member Jonah Winter whose resonant baritone calls to mind Dom’s own voice. Besides singing, Winter brings a variety of instruments to the mix, including accordion, tin whistle, clarinet and mandolin. Combining all those with guitar, violin, various ukuleles and a home-made one string bass makes for quite a disparate overall sound.
The music itself incorporates elements of folk, country, calypso and rock, although to confine it to any one of those labels would be somehow inappropriate. With all four contributing members being published writers, it’s natural that the focus is on the lyrics, which stand up well on the printed page. Documenting small moments and the big concerns of people’s lives, they read like little stories, with a linear narrative.
On one of my favorite songs on the album, "Coriander Eyes," written by Dom Leone, Winter sings, "Went to the grocery store, about 2 AM. My list was simple just some garlic, salt and cinnamon. I saw you at the check-out as I came up aisle four and you watched me watch you walk out that automatic door."
If you enjoy reading other people’s mail or eavesdropping on conversations, this is just the voyeuristic ride you’ve been waiting for. Ed’s Redeeming Qualities writes succinct, literate songs that make you laugh and somehow creep inside your heart. (GC)
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