I heard "Clash City Rockers" on the radio earlier this week and its startling face-smack triggered a flood of emotions - remembering sweaty, desperate punk rock shows, recalling the steely-eyed yet approachable humanity of Joe Strummer, but most of all reveling in how the Clash's awe-inspiring debut never backed down, never gave an inch and was unapologetically earnest while dolloping out bolts of righteous rage.
Dave Hause reminds me of that feeling - you get the sense there's no backup plan, rock and roll is the only thing there is to do. Talk to him for five minutes and you've got a friend for life. The songs on his solo debut Resolutions are about coming to grips with the moment when idealized notions (conquering the world with punk rock) meet maturing truths (how to marry art, family and adult obligations) in a fantastic mess of frayed nerve endings and still-to-be finished stories. Hause loses some of the scorched earth franticism of The Loved Ones, but guess what, the guy has a GREAT troubadour voice, full of emotion, evangelism and empathy. I was sold on this record when I first heard this line from the title track - "I want to play some Al Green records and spend more time with Tim".
Opener "Time Will Tell" sets the stage for looking back ("All my records feel like yearbook pictures, there's fondness but I can't remember where I've been") while the plot to move forward is formulated. Along the way there's a sobering wreck that drives home that life on the road is always tempting fate ("Pray for Tucson"), an organ driven shoulder to lean on in the anthemic "C'mon Kid" and ultimately a celebration/roll call of friends too good to be forgotten or cast aside ("Meet Me at The Lanes"), where ultimately we all wind up where we should ("So come on sing along, you got no better place to go"). Hause's naked uncertainty has yielded one certainty - this album will remembered when year-end best of lists are compiled.
Dave Hause appears this Saturday for two shows (sorry... both are SOLD OUT) at The Side Chapel at The First Unitarian Church on Chestnut St. (near 21st).
Dave Hause - "Pray for Tucson" (from Resolutions)
Dave Hause - "C'mon Kid" (from The Revival Tour Collection 2009)
Dave Hause - "Another Town" (Steve Earle cover)
The Loved Ones - "Louisiana" (from Build and Burn)
Dave Hause reminds me of that feeling - you get the sense there's no backup plan, rock and roll is the only thing there is to do. Talk to him for five minutes and you've got a friend for life. The songs on his solo debut Resolutions are about coming to grips with the moment when idealized notions (conquering the world with punk rock) meet maturing truths (how to marry art, family and adult obligations) in a fantastic mess of frayed nerve endings and still-to-be finished stories. Hause loses some of the scorched earth franticism of The Loved Ones, but guess what, the guy has a GREAT troubadour voice, full of emotion, evangelism and empathy. I was sold on this record when I first heard this line from the title track - "I want to play some Al Green records and spend more time with Tim".
Opener "Time Will Tell" sets the stage for looking back ("All my records feel like yearbook pictures, there's fondness but I can't remember where I've been") while the plot to move forward is formulated. Along the way there's a sobering wreck that drives home that life on the road is always tempting fate ("Pray for Tucson"), an organ driven shoulder to lean on in the anthemic "C'mon Kid" and ultimately a celebration/roll call of friends too good to be forgotten or cast aside ("Meet Me at The Lanes"), where ultimately we all wind up where we should ("So come on sing along, you got no better place to go"). Hause's naked uncertainty has yielded one certainty - this album will remembered when year-end best of lists are compiled.
Dave Hause appears this Saturday for two shows (sorry... both are SOLD OUT) at The Side Chapel at The First Unitarian Church on Chestnut St. (near 21st).
Dave Hause - "Pray for Tucson" (from Resolutions)
Dave Hause - "C'mon Kid" (from The Revival Tour Collection 2009)
Dave Hause - "Another Town" (Steve Earle cover)
The Loved Ones - "Louisiana" (from Build and Burn)