Eric Ambel – Loud & Lonesome

It sounds like Eric Ambel has accomplished exactly what he set out to do on Loud and Lonesome (ESD). These forceful songs are mostly about being confused, hurt, and generally pissed off with the state of our union. His record is also haunted by the pervasive spirit of Neil Young. Whether its Crazy Horse-styled guitar heroics or a harmonica blowing over an estranged confessional. One listen, and you’ll feel mighty Neil, guaranteed.

This is not to say Ambel is yet another imitator of Americana’s godfather. On this album, he has absorbed Young’s music quite naturally into his own. He is fervent and sincere in the guise of Roscoe, a weary outsider looking in. With a hard rocking trio, we find ‘Scoe yowling at those American Stars N’ Bars. His words and music are emotionally direct, and proudly displayed for our inspection.

Ambel immediately gets our attention on the opening cut, “Song For The Walls,” clubbing us over the head with some savage guitar work. His urgent guitar playing repeatedly breaks through the themes of self-imposed isolation. “I’m Not Alone,” is another insular bombast with a hard, stripped-down sound; reminding us that everybody knows this is nowhere. Amplifiers feedback while Ambel and his lumbering rhythm section pound out riff-rocking tales of the lost and disenfranchised.

Loud & Lonesome embraces a bittersweet home on the grange; “I was burned out in the depot, looking for a ticket out. Three feet under, three feet left to go, when she turned my head around.” is intoned over a simple, country-rock backbeat on “Three Feet Under.” “Downtown At Midnight” takes a long, slow walk through The Last Picture Show; you can feel the specter of good times gone. To wrap things up, Roscoe goes it alone with a hillbilly hand-me-down, “Red Apple Juice.”

Eric Ambel has a rock n’ roll heart. He’s been a central member of Brooklyn’s Del-Lords since the early eighties and was one of Joan Jett’s Blackhearts before that. Lately, he has worked as a producer with bands like the Bottle Rockets and the Blood Oranges, fleshing out their No Depression sound. Ambel and Dan Baird (of the Georgia Satellites) have also put together a revved-up band of shitkickers called the Yay-Hoo’s. Amongst all of this, Eric Ambel & Roscoe’s Gang have managed to serve up a fine slice of American pie, God bless ’em.