Music
STRANGE NAMES & NEW SENSATIONS
Steve Forbert (429 Records)“Middle age is different / Now you’re someone else,” sings the 52-year-old Nashville resident in the opening line of Strange Names & New Sensations, his latest album. Spiced by horns and a bubbling electric guitar reminiscent of the South Africa township style used by Paul Simon in “Graceland,” it portrays a man who realizes he’s grown into someone he’s pleased to be—even as he realizes that time is finite, that he doesn’t know everything he thought he knew, that there’s less time dedicated to “having fun” and that he has a better idea of how the rest of his life will unfold.
And just as he did nearly 30 years ago on his debut Alive on Arrival, the raspy-voiced singer sounds like he’s happy with how things are. Only back then, he was traveling around, not sure where or what he wanted to be. But, as he made clear in the track “Steve Forbert’s Midsummer Night’s Toast” from that same album, he knew what he didn’t want to be—shackled to the rat-race ladder of success.
Strange Names, recorded here in Nashville at Gary Tallent’s Moondog Studios, suggests that he’s done a fine job of sidestepping what he wanted to avoid—and, along the way, managed to find out who he is. Beyond the theme of aging, the record expresses both the idea that love gives life meaning, and that there are few things as purely joyous as a catchy melody. Nearly every song floats with the buoyancy of balloons in a parade—the sonic equivalent of a big, natural smile. But Forbert’s too wise and witty, his roots-rock too well crafted to come off as a Pollyanna. Instead, it conveys that he’s a fairly fortunate fellow doing his best to acknowledge his blessings amid the curse of advancing age.
The love songs—“Something Special,” “You’re Meant for Me” and The Zombies-like “My Seaside Brown-Eyed Girl”—are like intimate letters brightened by poetic flourishes. Forbert even revives his best-known song, the Top 10 “Romeo’s Tune,” folding youthful lust into the comfort that a good relationship provides later in life. When he sings, “Meet me in the middle of the day / Let me hear you say everything’s OK,” it’s less about reassuring one another that their attraction is real and more about reminding each other that togetherness is what makes each day special.
Forbert only breaks these themes a few times, most notably on “Simply Spaulding Gray,” a musical obit of the late monologuist that remarkably encapsulates Gray’s life while still singing his praises. Those familiar with Gray’s story will be stunned at how much personal detail Forbert works into the verses, lifting him up without glossing over the demons and difficulties.
It might not make sense to call Strange Names a career highlight—Forbert’s had few low points in an uncommonly consistent career. Instead, the album is like meeting up with an old friend and realizing he’s doing particularly well—and how hearing it puts a little shine on your life as well.