Old Souls and Wolf Tickets

by

Chuck E. Weiss

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I was very delighted-no, overjoyed!-when I spotted Chuck E Weiss's low-key, no-publicity new album in a local music store. It wasn't displayed, it wasn't on the new-releases shelf, a single copy was simply and humbly filed next to his 1999 aptly titled LP "Extremely Cool". Chuck E is like one of your weird uncles who smokes and drinks too much, and nobody in your family likes him. But you don't mind chewing the fat with him, sipping a spiked lemonade on the porch while listening to his wild stories from the good old Bohemian days, or even occasionally taking some avuncular advices from the old man on women, cigarettes and various other un-kosher activities. The songs on this new collection call to mind many influences. Comparisons to his old pal, Tom Wais, are inevitable. Other people will probably talk to you about all the similarities, so I won't go into them. Instead, I'll tell ya how this new album is dissimilar to Tom Waits in many ways. First of all, it's not produced, co-wrote, or guest-stared by Tom. The songs are written almost exclusively by Chuck himself. Makes one wonder what the sources of his new-found inspirations are (after all, we are talking about a man with a disproportional 40-year career and a 3-LP catalog). Second departure from Tom is indicated by the ecstatic joy that can be found in the new songs. Bluesy and earthy, quite different from some of Tom's recent works which are thick, dark, theatrical, and Kurt Weill-esque (Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Tom's recent stuff and hope he never stops making them. I'm just saying that Chuck's new songs have a different vibe.) The new set of Chuck E songs are raw, rowdy, playful, soulful, and definitely more accessible. A rich tapestry of different schools of Americana, reminiscent of the swampy Dr. John and Professor Longhair's Cajun brew. A wonderful album and arrived just in time, a nice mental retreat from the harsh Canadian winter. If you wish you were in New Orleans as well, I suggest you go buy the Wolf Tickets and ride the slow train with the Old Souls to the gay old Cajun country!