Save me, San Francisco --- Train --- 2009 (Columbia)
To pull a phrase from another section of my journal, this was more or less Last Chance Saloon for Train, whose previous album, “For me it's you” had failed to make any sort of impact on the charts at all, and had led to the band originally considering breaking up but deciding instead to take a break, during which they pursued solo projects. With those faring equally badly as their recent band output, Train got back together and approached their next, “comback”, as it were, album with renewed vigour, sense of purpose and the idea of just writing music for music's sake, instead of writing for the charts, desperate for another hit to rival their 2001 Grammy-winning “Drops of Jupiter”.
It seemed to work, and this, their fifth album, hits all the right spots. Though it still failed to set the charts alight, it sold well and re-established train as a viable rock band, as they returned to their roots, most especially demonstrated by the title of the album. Having been at one point a quintet, Train were now stripped back down to the original lineup of three: Pat Monahan on vocals, Jimmy Stafford on guitar and Scott Underwood on drums, and it seems to have made all the difference.
The title track starts off upbeat and happy sort of folk-rock, great guitar and some nice honky-tonk piano with Monahan at the top of his game again; he sounds happy and almost as if he's rediscovered his mojo. There's a great feeling of camaraderie about this song, and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves. If it sounds like anything, it's like three guys being delighted, after years on the road, to be heading home. Monahan sings
”I've been high/I've been low/ I've been yes/And I've been oh Hell no!/ I've been rock and roll and I've been disco/ Won't you save me, San Francisco?” It's hard not to get caught up in the exuberance of this music, so why try? Just let yourself go, and enjoy it!
Great opener, definitely sets the scene, then what sounds like banjo with a rolling drumbeat takes us into their biggest selling single off the album. “Hey, soul sister” is pure commercialism, but still retaining the basic Train sound. It's another upbeat song, very cheerful with some soft keyboards in the background which work very well, nice jangly guitar and then “I got you” is a little slower, with a James Blunt bent to it, the vocal on the verses more spoken/poetry than singing really, more organ but deeper and a little more to the front this time, while “Parachute” is a harder, punchier rock semi-ballad with passionate vocals and jangly guitar with thumping drums and solid synth lines, possibly even strings, though clear lineup information on this album is proving surprisingly difficult to come by.
Carried mostly on a laidback piano melody, “This ain't goodbye” looks to be the first real ballad, with a hint of Marc Cohn or Bruce Hornsby about it and a yearning desperation in the voice of Monahan. Would have made a good single, but I don't think it was chosen. Come to think of it, “Parachute” would also probably have been a good candidate for release, however although there were five singles in total released from the album (none of which charted that well, bar “Hey, soul sister”) neither of these were included. “If it's love” is a faster, more energetic song driven on Jimmy Stafford's fine guitar work, but it's Jerry Becker's keyboards that usher in “You already know”, with some lovely deep strings carrying the tune also, until it breaks out into a hard rocker with staccato guitar and punchy drums, a great vocal hook and some very powerful and effective percussion in the chorus. Very anthemic, I can see this going down well on stage. Fine breakout guitar solo from Stafford near the end.
A powerful hard ballad, “Words” opens on acoustic guitar but soon breaks out into full electric with backup from strings and keys and a gravelly vocal from Monahan. A sort of soul/gospel feel to this, with powerful backing vocals, and Becker's excellent piano lines again filling in the melody, then we're into “Brick by brick”, and indeed this is a slow track too, balladic certainly with a great keyboard melody running through it, flanked by some very expressive guitar and the sumptuous strings again, crafting this into quite a thing to behold. And then for a few seconds I think I've accidentally put on Phil Collins' “Face value”, as the drum intro to “Breakfast in bed” is taken right out of “In the air tonight”, but the song itself is of course a lot different.
I do find though that Train appear to be grouping the slower songs --- if not actually ballads --- together at the end of the album, which is a trick I don't really favour. I'd rather they were spread out over the expanse of the album, but this is how they've decided to approach the structure of the album, and “Breakfast in bed” is quite Ocasek/Cars in its makeup, kind of nodding in the direction of “Emotion in motion”, then the album closes on “Marry me”, a lovely little acoustic ballad, taking the total count of slow songs on the album --- and grouped at the end --- to four. Good closer though.
You can see on that on “Save me, San Francisco” Train have regained the love of songwriting and making music that was perhaps missing from the previous album, as they searched too hard for another hit single, and in the process lost sight of what was most important. Now that they are back on track (sorry!) I imagine their new album, which I think is already out, should be quite an experience to listen to.
Looks like San Francisco did save them, after all. And us.
TRACKLISTING
1. Save me, San Francisco
2. Hey, soul sister
3. I got you
4. Parachute
5. This ain't goodbye
6. If it's love
7. You already know
8. Words
9. Brick by brick
10. Breakfast in bed
11. Marry me