Trainsong: Guitar Compositions 1967-2010

Tompkins Square

chapmanIn an online work-in-progress documentary about him, British folk “outsider” Chapman lists his early influences as Big Bill Broonzy, Django Reinhardt and jazz organist Jimmy Smith, the latter because “he’s like a self-contained bass player, and I try to do that on the guitar.”

By way of explanation, Chapman says he used to listen to records without realizing there were two guitarists playing, and would “try and play both bits at once.” The singer-songwriter also maintains that because he was completely self-taught, “every technique I use on the guitar is wrong, but it works for me.”

“Trainsong” is a chance to witness those beautifully wrong techniques in their purest state: This all-instrumental double album — made up of recently recorded solo guitar versions of original compositions and a few covers — is devoid of overdubs, guitar choirs and the tapping rhythm foot.

Recorded at Phoenix Studios in Brampton, Cumbria, all but a few tracks were previously released in 2006 on his Rural Retreat label as “Words Fail Me, Vols. 1 & 2.” Josh Rosenthal, who won a Grammy for his work on the Robert Johnson box set while at Columbia Records, performs a public service by reissuing this ear candy on his historic-/contemporary-folk label Tompkins Square.

It fits well with other releases on the label by so-called American Primitive guitarists such as William Tyler, Sean Smith and James Blackshaw. But the retrospective nature of “Trainsong” combines with Chapman’s “whole is greater than the sum of its genres” style, creating a subtly changing musical panorama that’s unbeatable.

Highlights include “Fahey’s Flag,” where at one point the resonator guitar slows down — so expertly it’s as if a turntable gradually decelerated from 78 rpm to 33⅓ — and then later abruptly speeds back up; the sublimely beautiful “Caddo Lake,” inspired by a stop during a Texas road trip; “Wellington the Skellington,” an attempt at writing music for his dogs to dance to and named after his big skinny hound; the Strat piece “Sensimilia,” safely referred to (or should that be “reefered to”?) in the liner notes as “a gardening term”; and “Extrabop,” played on a National and one of the album’s best examples of Chapman’s “two-guitar” sound.gnm_end_bug

Tracks

CD1
1. The Last Polish Breakfast
2. Little Molly’s Dream
3. Fahey’s Flag
4. Rockport Sunday
5. Sunday Morning
6. Sweet Little Friend From Georgia
7. Elinkine
8. New Chord Blues
9. Uncle Jack/Looking For Charlie (In Nogales)
10. Caddo Lake
11. Theme From The Movie Of The Same Name
12. Stranger’s Map Of Texas
13. Slowcoach

CD2
1. Naked Ladies And Electric Ragtime
2. Ponchatoulah
3. Wellington The Skellington
4. Silverking
5. Sensimillia
6. Thurston’s House
7. Thank You PK 1944
8. The Coming Of The Roads
9. Sometimes
10. Extrabop
11. Trying Times
12. Hi-Heeled Sneekers
13. La Madragada

Total time: 1:50:55

External links
artist’s website
amazon.com