BEN ROGERS – LOVE SONGS, VOL.1

2013 – Self
Released
This Vancouver, Canada native has the distinction of producing as good a debut album as you are likely to hear, certainly lyrically. It is rooted in the story telling of a deep dark folk genre but also occasionally sprinkles a little bluesiness for good measure. It is an extraordinary album chock full of powerful lyrical tales that tell some incredibly evocative stories that very few can match.
Bens deep, raw vocal range has its limitations, but then so does that of many great singer songwriters, in fact such is the quality of the stories he tells that it is acceptable to compare him to many of his predecessors, such as John Prine, in their early days. He never tries to reach notes too high or too low, ensuring that there is always a pleasantly raw lilt that allows the listener to concentrate on the tale that is being told. Those vocals are perfectly suited to these stories that are unadorned with any superfluous colouration, relying instead on his portrayal of the story, and boy does it work!
Ben handles all lead vocals, plays guitar, harmonica, mandolin, banjo, autoharp, piano, organ and drum, so it’s no exaggeration to give him the label of ‘multi instrumentalist,’ added to which he also produced the album, although Jenn Bojm and Craig Mechler do help out with vocals on Kingdom Come. All songs were written by Ben with the exception of Kingdom Come, for which he wrote the lyrics but the music was co written with Johan Carlsson.
Everything about this album is minimalist and sparse except for the quality which, again lyrically, is extraordinary. Not that the music is bad; it’s just that whilst there are some excellent melodies the album is as lyric driven as any album I can ever recall hearing, to such a degree that every song has an incredibly powerful and descriptive cinematic quality. The entire recording is slow and moody, in much the same way as Springsteens ‘Nebraska,’ and includes few if any tempo changes but loses none of its power as a consequence. It is that moodiness that often sets the album apart, giving plenty of meat to the stories that in the main carry immense power and engender an avalanche of sympathy in the listener.
The album opens with The Dealer a song that sets the scene for much that follows, driven by acoustic guitar and occasional harmonica on the story of someone who moves to the city and falls into drug dealing purely by chance. It is dark and haunting and gets more so as he sinks ever deeper into his new found ‘profession’ until the tale reaches its inevitable conclusion. It is a thematically dark story that has an inbuilt raw, threatening atmosphere that draws the listener in to a dreary life on the edge. The Cheatin’ Kind prowls the deep darkness on a powerful murder ballad of a man giving his cheating wife what he considers to be her just desserts on a song on which Bens vocal is slightly reminiscent of John Prine. That is followed by Cowboys And Indians, a tale built on a simple melody on which his vocal has an air of monotony but the story is a tremendously powerful and quite gripping ‘interracial’ love story that ends in tragedy but with an ironic twist! The use of the harmonica gives the song an even deeper and varied atmosphere. Jailbird Song includes a lovely chiming mandolin on an epic story of a prisoner who is released to go off and fight the war in Vietnam. This is a deeply refective tale that makes a point of the contradictions in spending years in jail for a minor robbery against the giving of medals for ‘killing thirty men.’ Thought provoking as well as current. Finally, 500 Mile Blues (The Devil’s Crop) is led by a nice acoustic guitar and ‘stomp’ on the epic story that twists and turns of a man who leaves his family to travel a long way to find work and eventually after many adventures gets more than he bargained on. The tale is given an extra lift by a haunting harmonica break mid way.
If your musical preference is for realistic story songs you will be very fortunate to have found a finer example than this incredible recording. Dylan was/is an excellent writer of songs built on metaphor, whereas Ben Rogers has made a tremendous start on the road to being a master of realism. Buy the album and listen to some amazing, evocative tales. I’m told that seeing him perform these stories in a live setting is even better, so if you get the chance ……….!
http://benrogersmusic.tumblr.com/home
This Vancouver, Canada native has the distinction of producing as good a debut album as you are likely to hear, certainly lyrically. It is rooted in the story telling of a deep dark folk genre but also occasionally sprinkles a little bluesiness for good measure. It is an extraordinary album chock full of powerful lyrical tales that tell some incredibly evocative stories that very few can match.
Bens deep, raw vocal range has its limitations, but then so does that of many great singer songwriters, in fact such is the quality of the stories he tells that it is acceptable to compare him to many of his predecessors, such as John Prine, in their early days. He never tries to reach notes too high or too low, ensuring that there is always a pleasantly raw lilt that allows the listener to concentrate on the tale that is being told. Those vocals are perfectly suited to these stories that are unadorned with any superfluous colouration, relying instead on his portrayal of the story, and boy does it work!
Ben handles all lead vocals, plays guitar, harmonica, mandolin, banjo, autoharp, piano, organ and drum, so it’s no exaggeration to give him the label of ‘multi instrumentalist,’ added to which he also produced the album, although Jenn Bojm and Craig Mechler do help out with vocals on Kingdom Come. All songs were written by Ben with the exception of Kingdom Come, for which he wrote the lyrics but the music was co written with Johan Carlsson.
Everything about this album is minimalist and sparse except for the quality which, again lyrically, is extraordinary. Not that the music is bad; it’s just that whilst there are some excellent melodies the album is as lyric driven as any album I can ever recall hearing, to such a degree that every song has an incredibly powerful and descriptive cinematic quality. The entire recording is slow and moody, in much the same way as Springsteens ‘Nebraska,’ and includes few if any tempo changes but loses none of its power as a consequence. It is that moodiness that often sets the album apart, giving plenty of meat to the stories that in the main carry immense power and engender an avalanche of sympathy in the listener.
The album opens with The Dealer a song that sets the scene for much that follows, driven by acoustic guitar and occasional harmonica on the story of someone who moves to the city and falls into drug dealing purely by chance. It is dark and haunting and gets more so as he sinks ever deeper into his new found ‘profession’ until the tale reaches its inevitable conclusion. It is a thematically dark story that has an inbuilt raw, threatening atmosphere that draws the listener in to a dreary life on the edge. The Cheatin’ Kind prowls the deep darkness on a powerful murder ballad of a man giving his cheating wife what he considers to be her just desserts on a song on which Bens vocal is slightly reminiscent of John Prine. That is followed by Cowboys And Indians, a tale built on a simple melody on which his vocal has an air of monotony but the story is a tremendously powerful and quite gripping ‘interracial’ love story that ends in tragedy but with an ironic twist! The use of the harmonica gives the song an even deeper and varied atmosphere. Jailbird Song includes a lovely chiming mandolin on an epic story of a prisoner who is released to go off and fight the war in Vietnam. This is a deeply refective tale that makes a point of the contradictions in spending years in jail for a minor robbery against the giving of medals for ‘killing thirty men.’ Thought provoking as well as current. Finally, 500 Mile Blues (The Devil’s Crop) is led by a nice acoustic guitar and ‘stomp’ on the epic story that twists and turns of a man who leaves his family to travel a long way to find work and eventually after many adventures gets more than he bargained on. The tale is given an extra lift by a haunting harmonica break mid way.
If your musical preference is for realistic story songs you will be very fortunate to have found a finer example than this incredible recording. Dylan was/is an excellent writer of songs built on metaphor, whereas Ben Rogers has made a tremendous start on the road to being a master of realism. Buy the album and listen to some amazing, evocative tales. I’m told that seeing him perform these stories in a live setting is even better, so if you get the chance ……….!
http://benrogersmusic.tumblr.com/home