Life’s Journey to the Last Jukebox
Bernie Howitt
Posted On July 17, 2016
Life’s a journey, and great music helps you take that journey. Glenn Cardier’s life journey has contained all the dark routes and sun dappled paths captured in his latest release, “Cool Under Fire.” From a rockabilly infused adolescence in Brisbane, through the great folk boom, the original Sunbury rock festival, and a mid – 70s London sojourn funded by the Federal government, Cardier carved a unique place in Australian music. Then he disappeared.
In 2002 a tentative comeback led to “Rattle the Cage,” a growling, bluesy set of songs that sounded as if they’d emerged from a Hawkesbury River swamp via the Mississippi delta. “Cool Under Fire” represents the 5th new album in a resurrection that has seen Glenn Cardier win a reputation as the greatest roots singer/songwriter working in Australia today.
Every twist, turn and diversion in his life is reflected in the journey on “Cool Under Fire.” From the opening title track to the haunting undertones of the closer, “The Last Jukebox,” Cardier draws you into his world, peopled by dark characters, last chances, redemptive love and Elvis impersonators. One listen and you’re drawn in, quickly realising that we’re all heading towards that last jukebox.
Unlike earlier Cardier efforts, which were largely self-contained, this is very much a band record. Cardier and his band The Sideshow have blazed a path through Australian festivals over the last few years. Their refusal to be defined and categorised is reflected in success at shows as diverse as Byron Bay’s famous Bluesfest, the Gympie Muster, Sydney Blues Festival, National Folk Festival in Canberra, and Thredbo Blues Festival. That experience has helped create the strongest sound yet found on a Cardier release.
The opening title track creates just the right amount of edgy darkness to draw you in. Catherine Britt’s vocals add menace to the driving blues sound that starts our shared journey. “A Case of Mistaken Identity” is 1940s LA gangster noir. The ghost of Perry Mason haunts the brass and harmonica breaks, as the journey looks backwards, fearful as the past races to catch the present. “Welcome Home, Johnny-Oh” takes us there, as Johnny-Oh gets dropped off, facing forward, a survivor, his survival celebrated with a some triumphal keyboards and brass giving hope for the days ahead. “I Wanna Know” rocks us into “Impersonation of the King,” where Cardier continues his lifelong Elvis fascination, this time from the perspective of an Elvis Impersonator. Just one of the many characters we encounter in our journey towards that last jukebox.
Although he can create a hard boiled world of dark villains, Glenn Cardier has also written some of the most beautiful love songs imaginable. Gossamer thin, capturing the essential fragility of any relationship, “The Day I Fell In Love With You” illuminates the darkness, giving all good people the strength to journey on. Love presents the opportunity to wax philosophical. After all, we all “Win Some, Lose Some.” Here it becomes a celebration, with the “bah, bah, bahs” echoing a time when we were all happy together. Sooner or later though, we all have to confront the “Cold Light of Day.” With a rhythm that echoes circus days and lonely nights, it helps get the old car started as Cardier’s rockabilly youth blasts through. All’s good, we’re “Good to Go” as Rex Goh’s lead breaks send us hurtling towards our ultimate destination. Just a couple more stops on the journey, meeting another of Cardier’s cast of eccentrics, “Loretta,” who “drinks to the apocalypse, but not a drip falls from her lips.” Cardier summons all the tenderness imaginable as he calls on us to “Rise and Shine.” He’s brought us to our final destination, caressing us with love and memories of childhood, before taking us to “The Last Jukebox.” He tells us we’ve taken a wrong turn, but he’s been our guide. We’ve all ended up in this ghost town, looking at what just might be the last jukebox. Cardier wonders how the hell this thing’s still got electricity, but somehow it’s lighting up for us. At the end of such a powerful and thought provoking journey, in true rock’n’roll fashion, he tells us that really, there’s only one thing left to do, dance. As the world appears to teeter on some sort of apocalyptic chaos, perhaps Cardier has got it right. After all, there’s no terror in dancing.
This is a powerful album that draws you deeper and deeper with every listen. It is Glenn Cardier’s finest release, and with a catalogue like his, that is really saying something.
