Review - Pete Molinari's 'A Virtual Landslide'

Okay. This is the deal. I've been sitting on a copy of Pete Molinari's newest LP, A Virtual Landslide, for a good few weeks now. I wasn't going to review it until closer to the release date (which is March 31st seeing as you asked me so nicely). Yeah, I'll leave it... it's awful when rags review albums ages before release because, well, no-one can get their hands on it and it's jus' a prick tease. That's the morals... but I can't contain myself. I need to tell y'all how stupendous this beautiful long player really is. I NEED TO TELL YOU RIGHT NOW!

I continually tripped over my own jaw after listening to the last album, Walking Off The Map (read the review here). As albums go, it was pretty much perfect... so this new one? Wasn't ever gonna live up was it? That's the way it works surely? Non-believers, this is Pete Molinari... a man who can clearly do no wrong. A Virtual Landslide might just be the greatest album ever released!

Of course, claiming this album as 'the greatest ever' is a tall ask. In fairness, I'll concede that I'm still caught up in it's breathtaking sounds... but that said, hand on heart, this is an album that will stand up in 100 years time... 100 years ago... 100 years sideways... it's a phenomenal body of work. So what's different? How is it better?

Well, from the scatter gun opening of I Came Out Of The Wilderness, it's clear that Pete has himself a band. Which band? Well, it sounds like the session men from Dylan's Highway 61. Only better. Molinari's lyrics weave evil between the rockin' country/Sun Records grooves. It's a one-take, first take, knock-out opener. No fluke either. The LP struts with beat poetry and assuredness that's not been heard since some kid called Gram joined The Byrds and said "things are gonna be different from hereon in". In fact, the Parsons likeness doesn't end there. Molinari is clearly a fan of the uptempo end of Nashville, but like all good dustbowl balladeers, he's got plenty of time for heartache.

In the more reflective moments on the LP, like the aching beauty of Oh So Lonesome For You and There She Still Remains, seemingly candied songs unfurl to reveal incredible heartbreak, sorrow and glimpses of joy. It's what Nashville is supposed to do (if it hadn't discovered the money and Disney). Molinari's take on country is both beautiful and filled with abject misery... and naturally, it's incredible to be a part of.

I guess that's the beauty of Molinari's work... it's not so much sitting down and listening to a staggering album, but rather, becoming a part of it. At times, it feels like he's in your living room playing a song just for you... at other times, he's whisked you off to some seedy bar with chicken wire across the stage and truckers cackling into their bourbon. It's both intimate AND other-wordly.

Like the last outing, we're spoiled with sublime lyrics and cinematic imagery... and then there's the tunes... the tunes... listen. Stop reading this review now. Set a reminder in your phone for the 31st of March and get ready to spend the best £10 of your life. If you can't wait, you can preorder 'A Virtual Landslide' if you click here. If you don't buy it now, you'll only be spending £100 on it in a coupla years. This is the soundtrack to your life... don't deny yourself. There won't be a better album released in 2008.

[mof]

Comments

[Mandy]

Oh I hope you're right! I can't wait to get my copy of the album.
Your review of Walking of The Map was absolutely spot on! You said everything I feel about the album and more so I am going to believe you and I am now even more excited than before.
Thanks
Mandy...xxx
p.s I can't find the name of the author of these reviews...am I going blind?

[mof gimmers]

Thanks Mandy. I'm listening to it again right now and it keeps getting better with each listen. It's gonna knock you out!

Oh, and this is the author of the article, Mof Gimmers.

[Eddie Nunan]

Hi There,
I first heard Petes work on a freeby off a Mojo
blues compilation. What can I say, I loved, the song, learn't to play it on my guitar and have been telling anyone who will listen,how good this song is ever since. Imagine my amazement when I discover his website and the songs that are on it are all of the same high quality. I feel like I'm in on one of the greatest secrets of modern times, real music is alive and well in the form of Pete Molinari. I don't know if I want to share this secret or keep it all to my self and laugh at the other poor fools for not knowing.