The Black Sorrows – Faithful Satellite (Album Review)
Formed in the early 1980s, Joe Camilleri and his band The Black Sorrows have maintained a special place in the hearts of many a music lover, with classic songs such as Harley and Rose, Chained to the Wheel, Snake Skin Shoes and Daughters of Glory becoming musical gems of the Australian landscape, perhaps even shaping the way we view rock music today. Despite a few line-up changes in the last 30 years, they are still going strong, having just released their 17th studio album, Faithful Satellite.
The album starts off strong with I Love You Anyhow, a soulful, almost jazz-like track which transports the listener back in time, implanting visions of songs once heard in hole-in-the-wall nightclubs in the heads of those who hear it as lead singer Camilleri admonishing his lover for her unfaithful ways.
Just try not to hear the swagger in his voice as Camilleri croons “I hear you talking on the telephone/you keep it to a whisper cos you’re not alone/You tell me it’s your mother on the other end/ …You get away with murder but I love you anyhow.” to a backing of woodwind instruments and a howling guitar. It’s only the first track and already I know that this is going to be an album of epic proportions.
Next up is the upbeat Raise Your Hands. With its sixties vibe, it’s sure to get even the most reluctant of dancers on the floor or tapping their feet in time to the beat, before launching into bluesy ballad It Ain’t Ever Gonna Happen.
Land of the Dead is the classic rock song of Chained to the Wheel style. Harking back to The Black Sorrows, it goes to show that though the years may have aged these musicians, they have lost nothing of the musical skill and talent which made them so popular in the 1980s and ‘90s. Definitely one set to appeal to the group’s original fans, as well as a personal standout, along with the album opener.
Cold Grey Moon opens with a chorus of violins, and it is over a minute before Camilleri’s vocals kick in on this sweet, storybook ballad. Given its predecessors, the song is almost out of place, at least upon first listen. That said, it’s a welcome change, coming in at almost halfway through the record to highlight the softness of this singer who is probably more well-known for a somewhat heavier vocal.
While Fix My Bail veers a little too much into the country “honky-tonk” genre for my personal preference, there is no doubting the ability of the musicians playing on this record and the catchiness of the tune. If this is the worst that Camilleri and his crew can do, then there’s not much to fault, especially when it’s followed up by as good a rock song as Carolina. This latter song is another in which original fans of The Black Sorrows will rejoice.
Like Cold Grey Moon, You Were Never Mine and Winter Rose present yet another point of difference which will appeal to fans of the softer side of Camilleri’s vocals. There’s an “older” sound to the songs, which refers back to the band’s past hits, and perhaps even draws inspiration from the music of other popular singers of the time, such as Van Morrison.
Love Is On Its Way is perhaps the combination of both the softer and heavier tracks of the record so far, in the sense that it has the hints of bluesy-soulfulness found in Faithful Satellite’s earlier tracks, but without the rocky edge of Land of the Dead. The musicianship alone is enough to name this song among one of the album’s best.
Beat Nightmare sees the return of the sultriness we heard in I Love You Anyhow. With more focus on instrumentation than any of the tracks that come before it, it’s got an almost soundtrack-like sound to it, before the sweetness of the guitar returns to finish this album with Into Twilight.
It’s difficult to fault an album that is as diverse as this one. While Faithful Satellite is certainly designed for fans of the music of The Black Sorrows of old, there is enough space within the tracks to allow them to be appreciated by new fans as well, both in terms of lyrical quality and superb musicianship. Certainly, it goes a long way to proving that this classic Australian band are not through sharing their musical gifts with the world just yet.
[Editor/Author Note: This review was originally written for AMNplify.]
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