An MC (probably promoter Alex Wise) announces at the start that this is the first time
Ellis Paul has sold out the building (probably the Somerville Theater in Massachusetts, where part of the album was recorded), and that offers some justification for this lengthy collection: The singer-songwriter has moved up to playing theaters, at least in his New England base. Thus introduced, he begins with "Take Me Down," which also was the opening track on his last album,
Translucent Soul. It's a song about being in a small town on the road, which brings out longings for home and reflections on a broken relationship. Accompanying himself on a strummed acoustic guitar,
Paul savors each of his own lines so much that his performance overwhelms the song's meaning, which may be just as well since, despite his evident self-absorption, there isn't that much to it. And so it goes through more than an hour and three-quarters, as the songwriter describes life on the road ("3,000 Miles"), details romantic failings ("Changing Your Name"), fantasizes about religion ("Angel in Manhattan," "Did Galileo Pray?"), condemns gun violence ("Autobiography of a Pistol"), and comments condescendingly on people who have chosen domesticity over a life of art ("Never Lived at All"). In addition to songs, he recites poetry and tells stories. An extensive subtext is his frequent references to other musicians. The pieces name-check lots of them, usually with an opinion attached.
Ella Fitzgerald,
Billie Holiday, and Nat "King" Cole come in for praise, while
the Grateful Dead, Nirvana, and Tom Jones are attacked. Even
Graham Nash's singing gets knocked, which, given that
Paul is a high tenor himself, can be put down to jealousy. His description of his own voice in the poem "Harmony" -- "smooth and high, soft" -- is characteristically kind; for "smooth," substitute "raspy," for "soft," "strained." Coming after four studio albums,
Live might have been a welcome attempt to sum up
Ellis Paul's work so far, a good album for the uninitiated. Instead, it is the classic insider's record -- sprawling, repetitious, littered with ephemera and minor new material (much of which, despite the title, was not recorded live). Instead of being a summing up, it is only a holding action, a quirky document only a fan could love. But then, for an artist whose work and performance reek of self-satisfaction, it is an appropriate forum for his talents. ~ William Ruhlmann