Stan Ridgway, Neon Mirage

By Matt Keeley

I’ve been a fan of Stan Ridgway for a while—I even like The Way I Feel Today, his Standards album, and I’m one of those people who typically feels that if your name’s not “Harry Nilsson,” you shouldn’t be a pop singer who makes a Standards record. Of course, it helped that Ridgway experimented with the arrangements and song choices (he turned me on to “The Coffee Song,” one you’ve undoubtedly heard but probably can’t think of immediately), rather than just plopping down in front of an orchestra and phoning one in.

His newest record, Neon Mirage, like The Way I Feel Today, is mellower than his classic albums like Mosquitos or The Big Heat or the two he did with Wall Of Voodoo, but a bit more uneven.

Neon Mirage doesn’t really start off well. “Big Green Tree” (a new version of the song from Black Diamond) and “This Town Called Fate” are forgettable but inoffensive; on the other hand, “Desert of Dreams” is kind of embarrassing: it sounds like a lounge version of Stan Ridgway, only I’m not sure if there’s a joke . . .if it is, the song’s not good enough to overcome the alleged hilarity.

Even if the first few tracks are a little weak, but with the fourth track, “Halfway There,” it picks up considerably. “Halfway There” is one of the standout cuts: a soft Ridgway song that’s one of one of those pretty, sad tunes he’s so good at making. Like most of the album (and, heck, a lot of Ridgway’s solo career), it’s got a bit of an Americana feel to it. The song works perfectly with his voice and the quiet, subtle arrangement of the song is deeply affecting. It’s one of the songs that makes Neon Mirage worth it.

While nothing stands up to “Halfway There,” what follows is still pretty good. “Wandering Star” sounds like it could fit in on The Way I Feel Today if, y’know, it were a standard and not an original (which is intended as a compliment; Standards are typically Standards for a reason, and if you can write a song that sounds like one of ’em, you’re pretty goddamn good). “Turn a Blind Eye” reminds me of “Drive She Said,” but mellower; likewise “Flag Up On A Pole” sounds like a quieter version of early Ridgway stuff, albeit with a more traditional rhythm section.

After “Flag,” “Lenny Bruce” is another letdown, all the more for coming after such a great song. I’m all for tributes for the late comedian/satirist, but this one is lazy and it doesn’t do Bob Dylan’s song any favors with a uninspired arrangement that highlights some of Dylan’s weakest lyrics. (“They said he was sick/Because he didn’t play by the rules”; “Never robbed any churches/Or cut off any babies’ heads/Just took the folks in high places/And shined a light into their beds” or “Lenny Bruce is dead/But he didn’t commit any crime.” I didn’t know that crime-committing was a prerequisite for being dead). Bruce definitely deserved better—both in life, and in this song.

Luckily, the album picks up again with “Scavenger Hunt,” one that, again, echoes “Drive She Said,” but if you’re going to go back to a song’s style, that’s a good one to use. “Scavenger Hunt” is the more rural cousin of that cut; instead of a femme fatale robbing a bank, a man drives around the desert looking for his buried loot. The guitar sounds on this one really give it some much needed liveliness; the rocky distortion grinds and beats against the low-key samba-setting-on-a-Funmaster-rhythm-box drums and makes a great sound, giving some real grimy bluesy texture that really pops out, particularly given how mellow the rest of the record is.

The title track is a cool, country instrumental, one that, with more distortion and electronic squeals could easily have been slotted in on Call of the West. This one’s definitely worthy of naming the album. Honestly, it’s up there with “Halfway There” in the list of highlights from this record. It’s only three minutes, but it feels like it could be about three minutes longer without overstaying its welcome. It also flows well into the last song, “Day Up In The Sun,” a song with a melancholy core that’s still upbeat, looking forward to what comes next even if the best is over.

Neon Mirage isn’t the best Stan Ridgway album—it’s probably one of the weaker ones in his discography, in fact—but the highs are as high as anything he’s done in the past, which definitely makes Neon Mirage worth checking out. It probably could have used a little editing, but, hey, so could I. And, honestly, anyone who writes a song as gorgeous as “Halfway There” is clearly doing something right.

Neon Mirage was released on August 24 and can be purchased from CD Baby via Stan Ridgway’s website. He’ll be playing at the Mountain Stage in Morgantown, WV on November 7.