Purple Mountains
How come MB seems to be sleeping on this one?
Unfortunately I discovered this album only after I heard of Berman's suicide, which makes me ask myself how much the tragic backstory makes it stand out to me.
The lyrics certainly are pretty damn devastating in light of his death. He sings about alienation, depression, the death of his mother and the collapse of his marriage. All in a dry and matter-of-fact way, often with some wicked dark humour. The death wish is scarilly obvious here.
But the music holds up perfectly by itself. One or two tracks are a bit weak (Snow Is Falling In Manhattan, for example) but overall it's very cool and often groovy, at times sad and beautiful, at times with a nice contrast between the bleak lyrics and the upbeat music. What a farewell! RIP