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The Felice Brothers come to us from the Catskill Mountains where a homegrown sound has been working its way through the bloodlines for generations. Titled with a phrase drawn from the pages of Mark Twain, "Yonder Is The Clock" is teeming with tales of love, death, betrayal, baseball, train stations, phantoms, pandemics, jail cells, rolling rivers, and frozen winter nights. This is music that hasn't lost sight of the history of the land from which it came, and that quality alone makes The Felice Brothers the next great American band.
A Subtle MasterpieceReviewed by Luann Yetter, 2010-02-15
"The Big Surprise" is an inauspicious, disodent beginning,
deceptively creating the impression that the Felice Brothers are
blowing this off. The approach seems facetious until the images
begin to build on one another, and slowly the Felice Brothers are
sucking us in. The vocals are rough like sandpaper, but musically
the band makes great use of the accordian, piano or organ to add
color. "Run Chicken Run" has a sort of hoe down vibe to it, but
also a nod to Penny Lane in its street scene references. "Boy From
Lawrence County" tells a tale as deftly as a fine short story, with
wistful music and melody adding texture. Simon Felice's voice is an
acquired taste; the arrangements are spot-on whether creating a
good-time dance feel, a heart-wrenching sadness or a melancholy
somewhere in between. The lyrics are fine-hewned throughout without
a wrong word anywhere.
Almost As Good As Their Last Album!Reviewed by Dr. Don Olsen, 2009-10-12
I have to confess, their last Album, THE FELICE BROTHERS, is one of
my favorites!! I have even posted what I think are accurate lyrics
to that work on: [...] Feel free to send me corrections, additions,
fill-ins, etc. Not selling anything, just sharing.
This one is OK, but doesn't seem to have the "heart" of the other.
I have seen them in person, and it was fun. I hope to see them
again, soon.
American Music at its FinestReviewed by Timothy P. Young, 2009-08-04
The Felice Brothers fall into a category of Americana that I think
of as "Heartland Gothic." That is, they use traditional Appalachian
folk forms and mix them up with bits of New Orleans and dark
concepts to create a sound that owes as much to Tom Waits and other
musical explorers as it does to traditional American music. It
helps that they seem to be the only current practitioners of my
newly coined genre. They're unique.
Their new release, Yonder Is the Clock, takes everything that was
right about their previous release, The Felice Brothers, and hones
it to near perfection. There aren't just a bunch of long stretches
of balladry, but rather a mix of tempos which help keep the sound
consistently interesting. The ballads that are here (especially
'Sailor Song') create a dark, moody atmosphere that, while a bit
unsettling, is never unwelcoming. The uptempo numbers like 'Penn
Station' and 'Run Chicken Run' alleviate the dark tension with
their rollicking, ramshackle playing and hoarse,
almost-but-not-quite-rock vocals. However, the uptempo numbers
still maintain the themes of the album--namely, hard living,
occasional violence, and death. Somehow, this doesn't get
depressing, possibly because it sounds like the brothers are
enjoying themselves so much on the fast ones.
Vocally, there's not a good technical singer in the bunch. However,
the vocals are consistently folky (some have called them
'Dylanesque,' but you might as well call them 'Steve
Forbert-esque'), rough and tremendously human. They're able to do
what the good vocalists have always done--bring the audience into
the world of the song. And they do it very well.
Lyrically, it's chock full of good lines and well constructed
songs, with good dark humor cropping up often, especially in the
faster numbers ("She's the fairest of them all/She loves her
Adderall"). If there's a clunker here, it's the ode to that
baseball mecca "Cooperstown." It's slow, and I found it the only
time during the album where my attention wandered. That said, I'm
sure baseball fans might love it on its own merits. Not being a big
fan myself, a lot of the references probably went right by
me.
Yonder Is The Clock fulfills the promise of The Felice
Brothers--this is wonderful music, tightly played, deep in concept
but welcoming in execution, and with just enough outside influence
creeping in to keep them from being an empty genre band. They
transcend that here, and Yonder Is The Clock will hopefully start
the clock on their wider recognition.
MAGNIFICENTReviewed by Miquel Angel Landete Giner, 2009-06-14
They've done it again, but better. Every song is a jewel and is made to last for ever. Time will put this record where it deserves. Top.
Timeless MusicReviewed by J. D. JANSEN, 2009-04-27
With "Yonder Is The Clock", The Felice Brothers have created a
collection of timeless music, rooted in traditional American
musical forms, and with tales as old as the Bible or as new as
today's headlines. As the title would suggest nostalgia and death
permeate the album, as well as a sense of lives coming apart,
usually because of human weakness and frailty. The brothers are
solid musicians, able to confidently pull off uptempo numbers, as
well as slower piano and guitar ballads. Highlights for me include
"Penn Station", a gospelly tune about a dying vagrant (no photo
I.D., no past to torture me), hoping to catch the train to heaven,
but fearing the faster train with the devil engineer. "Chicken
Wire" and "Ambulance Man" segue into each other nicely as an
invalid is taken away by ambulance and pleads "please let me ride,
I'm at the end". But he's been "wrapped in chicken wire of my own
device" and wonders (in Ambulance Man) "where are your warm summer
winds, where's my lover been?"
The fun, catchy "Run, Chicken, Run" is a zydeco tinged tale of the
"chicken" running from his troubles because "chickens don't get no
life after death". "The Boy From Lawrence County" is a classic tale
of betrayal for love and money, where nobody comes out ahead in the
end. "Cooperstown" again reminisces about baseball, but as a
metaphor for achieving the unlikely when "everyone's sure that the
game is over"
"Yonder Is The Clock" gets better with each listen, as truly
timeless and authentic music does. By the way, the title comes from
Mark Twain's "The Mysterious Stranger" Chapter 9--worth a read in
and of itself, and available online.
