Chestnut Station - In Your Living Room

by Maarten Schiethart

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

Label: Drag City
Format: CD

Last time Rian Murphy appeared on CD, he duelled with Will Oldham on their joint EP 'Almost Heaven'. That was a stylish and self proclaiming but introverted folk pop record. The beast in Mr Murphy n

Review

Last time Rian Murphy appeared on CD, he duelled with Will Oldham on their joint EP 'Almost Heaven'. That was a stylish and self proclaiming but introverted folk pop record. The beast in Mr Murphy now comes to the surface with Chestnut Station where fun is had by all. 'In Your Living Room' is divided into two halves. A horn section is present throughout the second one, while the first features lots of rowdy rock'n roll, excellent though somewhat degenerated by flavours of doo wop and rhythm and blues. As with other equally honest live recordings, it is an occasionally out of tune, but hugely uplifting experience. Its American beat is in the tradition of The Fleshtones. Unlike the incestuous New York art school loft scene, Chestnut Station is an entirely Chicago-based affair that brings together such illustrious folk as Bob Weston and recording engineer Steve Albini. A thirst raising encounter if there ever was one, Chestnut Station takes Chicago bar by bar. The band's warm hearted soul revue features various covers, quite a few by Don Covay but rmour has it that Murphy is a huge fan of Allen Toussaint as well. While the Chestnut Station's version of 'What Do You Want The Girl To Do ?' is a little out of reach for his voice, it will win you over nevertheless. The Fleshtones have a new album out soon, but will find tough competition with this album.

Track Listing:-

1 Breakout
2 Right On
3 Boomerang, The
4 Everything's Gonna Be Everything
5 Pinch Me (Baby Convince Me)
6 Snowblind Friend
7 For A Friend
8 Fat Man
9 Sitting On My Sofa
10 Elephant Candy
11 What Do You Want The Girl To Do?