Steve Young - Switchblades of Love '1993

Tracks list

Tracklist

01. Have a Laugh
02. Switchblades of Love
03. My Love
04. Angel of Lyon
05. Going Back to California
06. Silverlake
07. Midnight Rail
08. If My Eyes Were Blind
09. Love Song
10. Shelter You

Steve Young's records are always exercises in paradox and Switchblades of Love
is no exception; perhaps it creates the rule. This album -- with a stellar cast
that includes Benmont Tench, Katy Moffatt, Steven Soles, Van Dyke Parks, David
Miner, and David Kemper, as well as Young's guitar-slinging son, Jubal -- is the
most realized and perfectly executed record of his career. Its songs are about
confrontation with the falsehood of self; mortality and how it cycles into the
eternal; and responsibility, love, and violence -- oftentimes these themes
collide within the same song, poetically, spiritually, and above all, humanly.
There are few albums that kick into gear with the intensity that this one does.
"Have a Laugh" is a mariachi-tinged folk song with an irresistible melody that
philosophically spells out the importance of loving/exhibiting kindness toward
ourselves by watching our minds and keeping a sense of humor about us at all
times. Immediately after, he launches into the title track, a confrontation with
the horrors and blessings we commit and give freely in the name of love. Young
sends the song out to both victims and perpetrators as well as lovers, and
ultimately turns the responsibility for change upon himself: "Me I think I'm
gonna go out and put my switchblades down/Way on down in the ground/No applause,
there won't be a sound/Just a rusty spade down in that honest earth/I will bow
down to the stars/And ask forgiveness for the scars/That I have made/In the name
of love." With Jubal's razor-wire soloing (this kid smokes) scorching the body
of the tune, this isn't merely a hymn of atonement, it is a prophetic anthem of
the human condition. Other standouts include "Angel of Lyon," a song about a man
who gives up everything to follow a vision and regrets nothing, despite the fact
that he gives up his life in order to find it. There's also a fine cover of Dave
Olney's "If My Eyes Were Blind" and "Midnight Rail," where Young makes his most
autobiographical statement, yet tells the story of many more, "Well I am a
midnight rider/I ride a midnight rail/And I've seen a glimpse of heaven/And at
least half of hell," yet transforms this into a stunning paean to hope and
goodwill. Soles' guitars and Crowley's keyboards (mimicking bagpipes) entwine
with Young's baritone to create a textural grace. It needs to be said that like
his other albums, Switchblades isn't an easy listen. As the critic and promoter
Dave Brogren said: "Those looking for release here will be disappointed; they'll
only be confronted with questions." That's about as fine an endorsement there
is.

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