Boo Hewerdine – Thanksgiving

Cambridge, England, native Boo Hewerdine has been an elusive, if supremely gifted, presence of no fixed abode or genre since arriving on the Britpop scene with The Bible in the mid-’80s. Specializing in haunting, relentlessly romantic pop songs, The Bible quickly squeezed out two discs, the second of which — 1988’s Steve Earle-produced Eureka — is one of those minor gems that make record collecting so compelling.

In 1989, Hewerdine headed to Texas to record Evidence with singer-songwriter Darden Smith. Yet another overlooked jewel, Evidence was granted a second life via a Compass Records reissue in 1996, which spawned a memorable reunion tour by the duo.

Hewerdine has spread his time over past decade playing solo, attached to various small-group projects, producing film soundtracks, and writing for and touring with former Fairground Attraction songbird Eddi Reader. His two solo releases (1992’s Ignorance and 1996’s Baptist Hospital) were elegant, intelligent and, sadly, largely ignored.

Like Baptist Hospital, most of the songs on Thanksgiving are a heartbroken lot conceived during a stay in Nashville, then recorded in several locales with crystalline production by folk-rock legend John Wood. But while Baptist Hospital included a couple of soaring (sonically, at least) anthems, Hewerdine keeps the rockers in his pocket this time out, allowing the seductive, neo-Gothic melancholia to run the course unabated.

Some folks, of course, have no appetite for good, old-fashioned sadness (g’wan, ya freakin’ Pollyannas — you know who you are). For the rest of us, though, Thanksgiving is a four-star tour-de-force suitable for 3 a.m. chill-outs or rainy-day self-pity parties. Hewerdine’s voice is truly one of the most beautiful extant, and the songcrafting (especially on his aching “Lazy Heart”, which is repo-ed smashingly from Reader’s Candyfloss & Medicine) is strong and memorable. You’ll have to excuse me, now…I think I’m gonna cry…