Album Review: Ben Kweller's Changing Horses

The album review for the month of march goes to another singer songwriter (I'll admit I am a big fan of the genre to an extant, oddly enough I also find it one of the most stale and boring genres of music as well.) However, unlike Elton John's lush and orchestral (if dark) look at America, Kweller's album gives us a bright and sunny slab of country rock (honestly I think it would appeal to to the more pure country/bluegrass fans then most country songs heard on the radio today). "Changing Horses" is the kind of album that sounds warm and familiar the first time you play it, it has the feeling of being one of those albums your parents played all the time when growing up, a quality rarely found in most recent albums. Unlike "Madman Across the Water" Kweller's album is full of ordinary people just trying to live life, it's not easy and its full of sadness and loneliness but also fun and joy. It's this treasuring of the gift of life that really speaks to me, and makes it so unique and out of step from the vast majority of rock music out there. The songs themselves are never deep in any sort of lyrical sense but their simplicity (not simplistic mind you) combined with the wonderful musical arrangements full of warm and (even better) real instruments, played by real people makes this album a keeper!

side 1

Gypsy Rose: The album starts with soft guitar, a song about a man falling in love with a prostitute as far as I can tell (lyrics like "give your body away" and "bring you food, money shoes just to lie neath your sheets" seem to indicate such) but the song is not about eros as much as it is about loving a human being and feeling empathy for them. The man looks at the her and seems someone that the world has treated cruelly and driving, he feels sadness at what she has become (even if he is among those that have brought her to this state, but none are perfect, sometimes we have to see what are actions do to other people to realizes their evil and destructive consequences.) The songs refrain - if it could be called that - is simply stating what the world has done to her, but that he loved her right (she is leaving him, in the song). So the happiness stems from the possibility of love bringing the redemption to not one but both individuals.

Old Hat: "Old Hat" is another low key song about a couple that has been separated, most likely for something the narrator did in response to her treatment of him, but now he is back seeking reconciliation because he realizes he needs her. He knows his faults and he is willing to compromise, but in return she has to promise not to treat him like the "old hat you put on your pretty head." now what exactly he means by old hat, I'm not sure. I thought he meant an accessory but later in the song he offers to be her gloves, scarf, quilt and cross (necklace) which are also accessories so the difference between the old hat and the others is beyond me.

Fight: This is my favorite song in the album, as it most completely encapsulates the theme of the album, plus it is catchy and the chorus is absolutely infectious and the lyrics are brimming with optimism and the fullness of what life is. It is a series of vignettes of people each of them is facing hard times but its not going to get them down, the hard life on the road - who cares? I'm heading home right now! A jerk dumped me, so what I don't need someone who does things like that! The third verse is a gem of a line that sums up the song as a whole "I'm like my grandma, short but I stand tall, playing every single card that's dealt to me, some days are aces and some days are faces well some days are twos and threes." It is a great and succinct description of life and perhaps the best way live it, one day at a time, appreciate the good days, and get through the bad ones. These people live by the mantra of the chorus "you've got to set your sight on the Lord in your live and fight till your dying day." An instant classic!

Hurtin' You: A song about someone who has been hurt deeply and her (or him the lyrics seem to suggest a her, but it is never explicitly stated) sadness is effecting the rest of her friends, the narrator included. It is one of the weaker songs on the album, particularly for the line "You're the only thing that can pull you through" which makes the narrator and the rest of the group seem a bit like parasites, telling the subject to take care of herself so that they can feel better, its a little lame.

Ballad of Wendy Baker: A quite, gentle "break up" ballad. The acoustic guitar plays gently as a man sings about the pain he feels for hurting her. She is leaving him, he knows he can't stop her, but he still is in pain. The music is well suited for this song, as it takes what could be a depressing song and turns it into a beautiful mournful song.

side 2
Sawdust Man: Sawdust man is another good open road song, it trucks along at a fairly average tempo, but its sunshiny arrangement and a decent set of "I'm going to cut loose because its quitting time" meshed with "I am a restless rambling man" lyrics make for an infectious combination. Perhaps it is appropriate that I bring up the use of slide guitar on this song (it is used on some other songs in the album "Wantin' Her Again" and "Fight"). The slide guitar is a major part of the appeal to the album, its wonderful country twang has a wonderful effect, it soothes and rights all wrong. The lyrics may not be literary masterpieces, but when that slide guitar starts chiming all issue melt away and you simply bask in the joyous life that it brings the song.


Wantin' Her Again: This song has quickly become one of my favorites on the album. It's a simple song about a guy who both pines for the love of a girl and resents her for teasing him about his feelings. As with many songs, the musical arrangements keep the whole song fun and enjoyable.

Things I Like to Do: This is the only time on the album that the lyrics grate on me as being a little stupid, sometimes they don't make sense (as in "Old Hat") or have thematic issues ("Hurtin' You") but generally the music hides the lyrical flaws, but in this song the problem lyric is the main refrain and when the refrain is as poorly worded as "These are the things I like to do" any lover of good English is bound to take offense. Overall the songs talks about a person who radiates an aura of happiness wherever he goes, he just seems like the optimistic type knows what he loves and realizes that it is the simple things the bring the greatest happiness.

On Her Own: A ballad about a strong willed woman willing to go out and take life by the ends set to another wonderful arrangement of bright country rock. The lyrics are full of that bright optimistic individualism that is so American both in its feeling and in its lyrical composition. It's full of tragedy, and yet the delivery and the music keeps you rooting for the woman, being proud off her spirit and determination to make it in a tough life.

Homeward Bound: A wonderful ending song and a perfect song to follow up to "On Her Own" instead of unbridled optimism and headstrong defiance of the individual to the hard life the world has to offer, "Homeward Bound" features the broken, beaten individual heading back to home and the comfort of others, weary of what the world has done to him. The quite distant piano helps to enforce this sadness and isolation, and yet when taken together with "On Her Own" and the whole album preceding it you can't help but feel that a prodigal son type welcome is waiting for him when he arrives.