Joseph Arthur - The Ballad of Boogie Christ Acts I and II

  by Andy Cassidy

published: 18 / 9 / 2013

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Review

For his tenth solo album, Fistful of Mercy and RNDM man Joseph Arthur has created ‘The Ballad of Boogie Christ Acts I and II’, his musical response to the concept of the “great American novel.” It is a double album of astonishing material, its lyrical insights matched only by Arthur’s intuitive instrumentation, the epic quality of its song-writing countered by the frank and highly personal nature of its subject matter. Opening track ‘The Currency of Love’ sounds like a Leonard Cohen anthem, and sets the stage perfectly for the album to come. Lyrically, Arthur has never been better, and the vocal performace (Arthur adopts an impressive croon rather than his usual, more deadpan delivery) is simply breath-taking. On an album of twenty-four songs where each one is, frankly, superb, it is difficult to pick out a highlight, but for me the album peaks with the title track. Doubtless to the chagrin of conservative Christians, Arthur demystifies the sacred and presents us with a version of Christ which, to me at any rate, sounds infinitely more appealing than the one I was introduced to at Sunday school. And yet, for all that, the Christ that Arthur presents is probably a more accurate picture of the man than the one we know today. As Arthur says, “Christ would like hip-hop, metal and soul…he’d say there’s no difference between you and me.” Also worthy of stand-out attention is ‘Maybe Yes’, a balls to the floor rocker which out-Stones the Stones. Again, the religious motif is to the fore, this time with Arthur questioning what God is and finding himself at the inescapable answer, when asking is God rebellious, is God a punk, “Maybe yes.” In the current religio-political climate, this is a brave song lyrically, but its challenging nature reminds me of the days when artists used songs to actually say something. There is simply too much to recommend this album than could be done service in any review. Quite honestly, I loved every second of it from beginning to end. If you only buy one album based on a review this year, make it this one. I find it very difficult to imagine that anyone would be disappointed.

Track Listing:-

1 Currency Of Love
2 Saint Of Impossible Causes
3 The Ballad Of Boogie Christ
4 I Used To Know How To Walk On Water
5 Wait For Your Lights
6 I Miss The Zoo
7 It's OK To Be Young/Gone
8 Still Life Honey Rose
9 Black Flowers
10 King Of Cleveland
11 Famous Friends Along The Coast
12 All The Old Heroes
13 Blue Lights In The Rear View
14 Maybe Yes
15 I Am The Witness
16 Travel As Equals (acoustic)
17 Holding The Void
18 Missy Baba
19 Akron Skies
20 Junkies and Limousines
21 We Began To Dance Again
22 Whisper Of Whispers
23 House Of Your Love
24 In The City

Band Links:-

http://www.josepharthur.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Josepharthurp
https://twitter.com/josepharthur
https://instagram.com/joseph_arthur/

Label Links:-

https://realworldrecords.com/
https://www.facebook.com/realworldreco
https://twitter.com/realworldrec
http://realworldrecords.tumblr.com/
http://realworldrecords.tumblr.com/