Ernie Graham
Liberty / 4 Men with Beards
1971 / 2014
Rating: 9 house dicks out of 10
Whoa. WHOA. This record...to paraphrase the kids, today, I can't even. You ever listen to something old and immediately get pissed that it hasn't been in your life forever? That's how I felt after first hearing this self-titled record from Ernie Graham. Ernie was an Irish musician who I guess floated around the scene overseas for a number of years, known in certain circles but never really breaking through. He played with a number of different bands and opened for the likes of Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix, but never got over that hump.
This is his only solo record, a mesmerizing eight song near-masterpiece that has Nick Lowe and his band at the time Brinsley Schwarz playing the music for Ernie. The record actually starts out mellow with a few Bob Dylan and/or Nick Drake type numbers, nice songs all three. But it's when he hits "The Girl That Turned the Lever" that I nearly lost it - it was like discovering a long lost song by the Band, and one that would have been at the top of their catalog. The album keeps this trend up with the next song "For a Little While" and later "Don't Want Me Round." How this man did not achieve stardom after penning these three songs will haunt me until my final days now. If these tracks missed, how does anyone make it? The music world is truly a dumbfounding place.
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