Bones (CD)

Bargel, Richard

(Meyer Records) 10 tracks, digipack
The Cologne artist with the dark voice and the proven talent to write exciting blues surprises us with a new little masterpiece. He has a flair for intensity and the most economical musical arrangements. On 'Bones' he presents himself solo with seven new songs and new versions of three traditionals. Strong. The lyrics are printed.
On 'BONES' Richard Bargel takes a rougher, earthier and more direct approach again. The new songs have bite, irony, wordplay and black humor and are performed by Bargel with his own deep intensity and brash nonchalance, which give his music this incomparable independence and fascinating authenticity. He has mastered the art of giving each song its own dense atmosphere.
Already in the opening song "The Last One In The Row", a typical Woody Allen figure appears, the eternal loser, who is always late, who is always the last in line and who indulges in petty desires for revenge.
and who indulges in petty vendettas when he is the only one left to fall back on.
The song "The Chameleon" tells of an aged spy, not without danger because he has been discarded, a lecherous voyeur, also a nasty stalker, who follows his beloved at every turn and peers through her window panes at night. "The Third Man" and "James Bond - You Don't Live Twice" send their regards between the lines!
In "Lazy," the sheriff's dog digs bleached bones out of the desert sand, perhaps near Reno or Las Vegas. While the sheriff reports the discovery of a "John Doe" (American: unidentifiable corpse), the bone man, so rudely exposed after many years, feels his well-deserved rest disturbed. Blackly humorous and full of irony also the song "Anytime You Want", in which the main character himself wants to accept death at the hands of his supplicant, if at least she would love him then, at that moment, because: "nothing matters
anyhow!".
With "Got To Hurry" Bargel caricatures today's zeitgeist: In life always in a hurry, making money, making a career, securing what one has achieved and in case of death not getting to hell fast enough to finally be able to sell one's soul to the devil. Completely different, because more poetic mood pictures, offer "Heart Shine Girl" and "The River". The first is a love song sung with rough heartiness for the
love song for the "Heart Shine Girl" from the street corner, which, like the "Shoe Shine Boy" for the shoe, is able to polish up the heart that has been soiled by everyday life.
trimmed by everyday life.
"The River", on the other hand, is a nearly 12-minute masterpiece that thrives on sparseness and is a declaration of love for the blues par excellence, a music and a way of life. A great song that the listener can't escape, a song to fall into and let oneself be carried away. And so, finally, Richard Bargel also bows with respect to the origins of his music by recording three traditional songs, "In The Pines "* and "I`m Leaving Here", as well as the gospel "John, The Revelator" in an Á Capella version for this production. Straightforward songs performed by Bargel with the same easy nonchalance and deep intensity as they were once sung and played by the original black performers from the Mississippi Delta.