Review - Pete Molinari's Walking Off The Map LP

Toldya before about the incredible Pete Molinari. Well, here's a review of his phenomenal Walking Off The Map LP.

You know when a mate gets in touch... they're already slightly out of breath... they're hurrying their words to the point of nonsense... they're either in trouble with the law or they've just had their head reprogrammed by scientists... or they've just heard an LP that's completely blown their brains out. Well, the latter is what happened when a mate got in touch about Pete Molinari's Walking Off The Map.

What was I to do? Straight off, got the card out, went to The Damaged Goods label site and spent one of the best tenners I'll ever part with.

Walking Off The Map is one of those LPs that leaves you struggling with words. On first listen you know that you've just heard one of the best albums of your life. The production is perfect... the singing is cracked and tender... the... everything... is... it's... just... y'know... arrrgh... fu.... your mind stutters and cuts-out because it's all so overwhelming. They're not supposed to make albums like this anymore. It's too good. Something of a rarity for me is that after the first listen, I pressed play immediately. I couldn't get enough. Jesus man! Every further listen revealed yet another priceless line, another beautiful unfurling melody. The opener leaves you mopping up the tears and through the snot and wailing, you join in... "guess I'm so indescribably blue...".

Molinari's voice is THE most soulful thing you'll hear this year. It's earnest and true. It's got the ghost of Woodie Guthrie, the reedy scratch of a young Dylan, the heartache of '40s country and the balls of Tom Waits. The recording is another revelation. It's got the DIY of old field recordings... like, man, this sounds like a lost great Smithsonian Folkways recording that's been buried in the earth for the past hundred years. Billy Childish, seemingly bought an old mic and simply pressed record. For that, it sounds incredible.

The songs themselves are living and breathing things that have the lines of experience scratched on their face. They deal with rejection, loss, desperation, love, blood, truth, death... man... this is the soundtrack to every fibre in your body. It's bizarre. I really can't heap enough praise on this album. It's a stunning piece of work that keeps you coming back and back and back. I'm on my 1000th listen in a fortnight and I'm still not flagging. What Use Is The Truth To Me Now is the sound that wraps around you like the last hug before a girlfriend leaves you for good. The World Has Gone Away And Left Me features some of the most stunning vocal work this writer has ever heard.

Go and buy this album now. Seriously. You'll be a richer person for owning it. You'll wonder just how you managed to live this long without it.

Click here to buy Walking Off The Map from Damaged Goods. Click here to visit Pete Molinari's Myspace page for tour dates and news.

[mof]