Ron Sexsmith

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invisible Pole
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

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Ron's Facebook page has confirmed the title should be Forever Endeavour :-)
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Poor Deportee
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

Post by Poor Deportee »

The 'u' is there! Phew! :lol:

No question, Ron is a throwback to that golden era - created in the wake of Dylan's explosive redefinition of popular music - of singer-songwriters, the James Taylors, Harry Chapins, Gordon Lightfoots, etc.. That overall culture led even to cheesier rockers, like Rod Stewart, having a certain interest in songcraft which is no longer required in commercial pop. It seems as though the combination of Prog Rock and Disco - the latter leading to mechanization, possibly the worst development in the history of popular music - more or less destroyed this configuration, whereby song actually mattered.

As for spirituality - throwing one's hopes to the heavens, to paraphrase Jack's elegant phrase - this seems to me to run right through Ron's body of work. God is a recurring motif, as is the casting of human reality in light of wider spiritual horizons. Just listen to 'Nowadays' off the last record. It's a rich and moving vein in his creative life, part of his distinctive lyrical voice.
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Jack of All Parades
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

Post by Jack of All Parades »

Video of first song from new album "Nowhere to Go"- eerily pessimistic and I love the surge of the French Horn part.

http://youtu.be/1DzLHWtGW0g
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Sounds good but like most Ron will need 5-10 plays to sink in!

Like the cover:

http://www.ronsexsmith.com/images/news/ ... eavour.jpg

So Mitchell Froom is producing? Excellent, always worked well before. Bob Rock was not right for me (or Ron), though it seems career-wise he was a good move. The two songs to date seem like the classic, understated Ron I've always loved.
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Full album streaming here now:
http://www.ronsexsmith.com/

Revisiting the lovely Nowhere To Go as posted above, but rather than listen to it all now, I've pre-ordered and will hold out to listen to it at 1411kps on a proper hifi system. Tempted to play it all now, though...

Initial impressions are that it's more the sound of Ron keeping it real with Froom, less of the Hollywood Rock sound which didn't sit well for me on LPLB. Harking back to his debut album, but with a pretty decent budget to judge by the strings, etc.

Sigh.
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Jack of All Parades
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

Post by Jack of All Parades »

I am enjoying the in your cups and down and out song with its sprightly horn arrangement "Me, Myself and Wine"

February 4th will be a sound listening day what with this album and the new one by Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris.
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Poor Deportee
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

Post by Poor Deportee »

I seem to have drifted into a policy of not paying much attention to album streaming prior to purchase - at least, not when it comes to albums that I'm already committed to buying in advance. Ron was originally in this select category, then slipped out of it around Cobblestone Runway, then returned in force with the splendid Long Player Late Bloomer. So I'll pay little attention until the actual release.

But I do want to put in a good word for Bob Rock's production. I'm not a big Rock fan, but I think he did a great job with Ron's last record - a glittering sonic jewel if ever there was. Listen to what his piano adds to 'Michael and his Dad' (quietly one of my favourites on that record), or the glorious pop of 'Get in Line' or 'Believe it when I See It.' Ear candy par excellence. That said, Mitchell Froom is the producer who helped define Ron Sexsmith and Late Bloomer had nothing on, say, Whereabouts (my personal favourite of Ron's albums)...so I'm sure this is sonically delicious as well.
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Not wishing to diss one of my true heroes' (had to correct myself on that one!) albums, but my comment would be 'Imagine how much better those songs would have been produced by Mitchell Froom.' I think it was a good career move, opened doors, got airplay, etc. Get In Line is sublime and sounds great, but 'Believe It...' et al veer too much towards what was once referred to as the 'FM sound'. It made me play LPLB far less than its predecessors.

With you on the streaming point, though.
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

Post by Jack of All Parades »

I found myself enjoying more and more Bob Rock's production on the album as I continued listening. In that I am in PD's 'ear candy' group. I am appreciative that Ron made an effort to open himself and his music up to a sonic shakeup. A surfeit of dourness needs such a shakeup. I like to think the sonic reshuffling of two years ago was invigorating and has allowed him to open up his musical palette- I think the sound of horns on the new songs is evidence of this, the "Soul" album from his recent past not withstanding.
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Well exactly, 'Exit Strategy' did horns wonderfully. A much more downbeat album than its successor, and maybe not his best. But I prefer it. More essence of Ron's soul in it. Will revisit LPLB to see how it sounds a year or so on.
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Ah, well FE came out yesterday and Amazon (sorry Fopp!) did pretty well getting it to me today. Played it the whole way through at about 10.30, but my eyes were stinging with tiredness and I kept drifting in and out. Still, that works very nicely for a Ron album. Overall I love the sound, feel and vibe of it, it's immediately a bit more downbeat, intimate, Ronlike than the predecessor. We're going to have to agree to disagree, or even disagree about disagreeing, but I totally agree with what Ron's local press said here:

http://www.nowtoronto.com/music/story.c ... ent=190991

I hadn't realised there are two bonus tracks (on the version available here) with Don Black as lyricist. They both sound really good. Ron says:

"I didn’t really have anything for bonus tracks, and these days you can't make a record without bonus tracks or a deluxe edition or something, so the only thing I had were these song I had written with Don Black, who in England is a legendary lyricist. We wrote them with hopefully the idea that someone would record them. We are still trying to shop them around. Maybe we can get 'Autumn Light' to Tony Bennett. We’re working on it."

Don Black details. Born Free, etc:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Black_(lyricist)
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Poor Deportee
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

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Well, it's ultimately a matter of judgement, but I just don't see how Rock ruins Sexsmith. All I can think of is the gaudy guitar on 'Seeing is Believing.' I don't mind that myself (it's only one song, and does provide a swooping uplift), but I certainly can see where that might grate. Other than that, we're talking about more developed-than-usual backing vocals - but what's wrong with Ron giving himself a few Beatlesque harmonies? - and a somewhat greater attention to bringing out the hooks already implicit in the songs. As for the treatment of Ron's vocals, I find he's never sounded so good on record.

I don't even find the last album all that radical a departure, sonically. OK, it's a little brighter, with a little more 'oomph.' But it's nothing as wildly incongruous as, say, what he suffered with Cobblestone Runway. Now that was grotesque.

Then again, I tend to see Ron as fundamentally a pop songwriter, and so have no problem in principle with these approaches, which are consistent with 'pop' in the proper sense - Elvis Costello, The Beatles, the Monkees :wink: - rather than, say, Britney Spears, or even the kind of dated badness of Goodbye Cruel World. Perhaps if I thought of him in terms of some other category (Joni Mitchell?) I'd have a different gut response.
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Jack of All Parades
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

Post by Jack of All Parades »

Whole heartedly endorse Pd's assessment of "Long Player-Late Bloomer"- I really enjoy how Bob Rock opened up those inherent hooks and accentuates the vocals and perhaps, most, brings the piano to the foreground on that record. He served Ron well and hopefully helped to gain Ron a broader acceptance- at least he is now playing Royal Albert Hall thanks to this record later this year.

As to the new record I have been absorbing it over the past week. I really like the usage of horns on several of the tracks- like "Nowhere to Go" and "Me Myself and Wine". My criticism of the album is aimed at Froom's production. There is a sameness to the sound over all that wears on my ears. I want to hear more piano and vocal development. That said I find the final five tracks one of the most consistent sequences of his material in some time. Personally "Back of My Hand" and "Me Myself and Wine" make for a vibrant and quite personal one-two punch for a hard earned acceptance of what this life has to offer and for a gentle acceptance of that reality. I have never found Ron more poignant than in this sequence. And then to have the bonus track of "Autumn Light". Needless to say the album is on my playlist on my IPOD. :)
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
johnfoyle
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

Post by johnfoyle »

Here are some photos from the Ron Sexsmith show I enjoyed in Belfast -

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... 425e45b0a4


A day later I saw Mark Eitzel in Dublin and he was just as good. He spent most of the show joking about how he was the cheap alternative to the Sexsmith show on that night ( hence my trip to Belfast) , qualifying that by saying how much he likes Ron etc.

Here's a Eitzel show from Spain last week -

http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/los- ... l/1694992/
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

Post by johnfoyle »

http://iheartau.com/2013/02/ron-sexsmith-2/


Reviews_ Live

Ron Sexsmith
Limelight 2, Belfast

Ross Thompson

How do you measure success? In terms of bouquets from critics, gold discs or something more tangible? This question, as revealed by the alarmingly frank documentary Love Shines (2010), hounds Canadian songwriter Ron Sexsmith like a black dog. He has been hailed by the great and the good as one of the best word and tunesmiths around yet consistently fails to see his hard work bloom into satisfying sales.

He addresses this dilemma right at the top of this evening’s gig, joking about his “many hits” before launching into another beautifully crafted gem which, if the world was more fair and less foul, would have indeed been a hit. It sets the pattern for an evening which strikes a balance between humour so dry it is positively arid and a raft of lovingly honed songs. There’s a solo acoustic jaunt through ‘Heavenly’ alongside sublime versions of older tracks ‘Wastin’ Time’ and ‘Lebanon, Tennessee’, and there are full-bodied renditions of tracks culled from Long Player, Late Bloomer, particularly a rousing ‘Believe It When I See It’. It champions the defiant spirit which characterises much of Sexsmith’s latest material.

Predictably, the emphasis is on promoting the new album, the finely punned Forever Endeavour, which, in spite of any first night of the tour kinks for which Sexsmith apologises, sounds mighty good. The songs therein are lovely things, switching between between country, soul and Dixie band. Admittedly, those looking for high octane, full throttle action are going to be disappointed but they will miss Sexsmith’s innate talent for subtle storytelling and the fact that he clearly knows his way up and down the fretboard. It doesn’t help that the quieter moments are nearly derailed by inconsiderate dumbkopfs and harridans in the crowd who insist on talking, talking, talking without ceasing – what you wouldn’t do for an electrified cattle prod. Regardless, Sexsmith’s voice is in rude health and it is heartening to see that he has lost some of the crippling shyness which so damaged many of his previous performances.

An early curfew robs us of an encore and, painfully, another chance to hear ‘Secret Heart’, one of the most genuine and affecting love songs in recent memory. However, there are plenty of other moments to take home this evening. A success then? Yes, it’s another victory in the major key.


Check out Robin Corinder’s photos from the show in the gallery -

http://iheartau.com/2013/02/ron-sexsmit ... 2-belfast/
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Thanks, John. Enjoyed your Ron collage inc. setlist. Shame you didn't get to hear Secret Heart. Great that he's playing most of the new album. He normally does, but as the back catalogue grows, the challenge to decide what to include must get harder. I loved Wastin' Time last time I saw him. these songs can blow you away. I always find his songs work properly when you see him singing them in person in a way that translates back to hearing the recording. I suppose a lot of artists are like that, Elvis included. Really enjoying FE, a very worthy addition to this remarkable body of work. Nice to see he's touring with the full band and that it's the same as the one I saw last opportunity 18 months ago, inc. Don Kerr.

Isn't he playing a Dublin show?
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

Post by Jack of All Parades »

http://instagram.com/p/WPtA1LwgCr/

Well if Ms Jill Barber cannot put a smile on his face I have to wonder!
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

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Isn't he playing a Dublin show?

A day later I saw Mark Eitzel in Dublin and he was just as good. He spent most of the show joking about how he was the cheap alternative to the Sexsmith show on that night ( hence my trip to Belfast)
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Doh! Too much speed reading.
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Ron at the RAH, magical. Some heart-stopping moments in among all the heart-warming ones. Secret Heart solo on piano. Autumn Light likewise, just sublime. Most of all, he told us his parents were there, and we waved to them and they to us from their box at the back, and then he played Deepens WIth Time. Wow. Strawberry Blonde as perfect as ever. Most of the new album, sounding fantastic live - despite their deep intimacy, they shone in the cavernous RAH. Lots of nice selections from across the albums, e.g. There's a Rhythm, dedicated to very ill Roisin who was in Belfast and wanted to be in London but couldn't make it. Fantastic, especially when he said headlining the RAH would have been even beyond his list of dreams, but there he was. So humble, yet being adored by 1,000s.
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invisible Pole
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

Post by invisible Pole »

Oh my, Secret Heart and Strawberry Blonde!! I wish I had been there ...
Did he play anything from Retriever? Imaginary Friends or How On Earth?
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

Post by Jack of All Parades »

It does sound like a lovely evening and in a venue I have longed to see a show in just once in my life in person for the longest time. Did "Back of My Hand" or "Me, Myself and Wine" get a workout along with the gorgeous "Autumn Light"? They make for such a strong ending on the new record. Glad to read you had a good time.
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

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Did it sell out? I received an email offering £7.50 off tickets.

Despite Otis' Tower of Ron CD which he gave me many moons ago he does nothing for me I'm afraid.

Glad you enjoyed it though.
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Poor Deportee
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

Post by Poor Deportee »

'Autumn Light' is superb. Other favourites off the new record are 'Back of my Hand' - straight Beatles circa 1965, I love that sound! - and 'Me Myself and Wine,' as well as 'If Only Avenue.' However, the one that really hits home for me is the throwaway-in-disguise, 'Step Out the Back Door.' It's hard not to enjoy the John Hurt guitar and the attractive tune, while the poignantly self-immolating lyric strikes me as a kind of rebound off EC's 'I Want to Vanish' - a much more plain-spoken take on this theme, trading all the fancy 'mirrors, spools, rare and precious jewels' for wry puns, the elaborate conceptual and musical artifice for simplicity. At its heart, despite a somewhat jaunty delivery, this song is heart-catchingly sad. And, it seems, sadly underrated.

On another note, I think Ron has become a bit of a prisoner of his sad-sack persona. You can't read anything about him that doesn't start from the position of feeling sorry for him. It gets a bit grating if you ask me ('Tragic Ron! Never had a hit record!' Aw, poor baby :roll: ).
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Re: Ron Sexsmith

Post by Jack of All Parades »

Most definitely the 'sad-sack' personae is wearing thin. Would it hurt to crack a smile in a photo- it is rare to see one these days in official photos. Witness this one recently with his fellow Canadian Jill Barber:
d591fdf8810f11e2b39e22000a9d0df1_7.jpg
d591fdf8810f11e2b39e22000a9d0df1_7.jpg (64.87 KiB) Viewed 20206 times
If she cannot put a smile on his face what is the problem given the success he had with her co-writing "Chances" which exudes a joy in and of itself! :shock:

http://youtu.be/guVjJC9A_hM
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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