Jonathan Wilson – “Eat the Worm” | Progressive Rock Central.com

I have been a fan of Jonathan Wilson, ever since his second album, Gentle Spirit, which came out in 2011. Jonathan returns this year, with Eat the Worm, which was released through BMG Rights Management.

I have most of his discography, but just couldn’t bring myself to buy Dixie Blur, because I am no fan in any way of Dixie, its music, or anything else, for that matter. So I skipped that album. But now Jonathan is back with a new and very interesting album, reviewing a few of his ole haunts and some of his past and present; and he does it in a fun way. The only way Jonathan knows how to do it…by the way.

Eat the Worm, sounds like an invitation to finish that larva at the bottom of tequila bottles; just to see what happens. And that is the sound and feel of this album throughout. Jonathan Wilson telling you to experience more out of life, before it is too late, and so you do not have any regrets, later.

Wilson has stated that his album, which has a psychedelic-folk bent, was inspired by Jim Pembroke’s 1972 album Warm Rumours. Wilson stated, “I found out about him because he passed away during the pandemic. Somebody sent me a video of him and his band on some Danish show in 1972, and I was just like, ‘Who the fuck is this guy? This is incredible.’ Then I went on a deep dive on Spotify and found Warm Rumours. It’s this really incredible, intricate thing where he sort of shoots himself in the foot for the possibility of commercial success by talking in these weird characters, and he presents the album as a talent show and all this weird shit.”

So, there you go…Now let’s get into this album…

“Marzipan”, is a fun song of reflection, about Wilson’s life in NYC, in the early 2000’s, while he was in his 20’s. Wilson states, “The feeling of Greenpoint, Brooklyn at that moment. Countering that with a deep dive into Hank Williams, Roy Acuff, and my early fascination with the Harry Smith Anthology during those years, I was obsessed. And of course, jazz, which changed my life forever”. It is a fun look back filled with piano, and soft strings. It was one of the album’s first singles, and one of the longest songs on the album. That wonderful piano melody takes me back to so many sounds I remember from 70s TV shows and soundbites. Thank you for that, Jonathan.

I used to be a big fan of Joe “Bonamossa”. But lately I haven’t listened to too many of his albums or collaborations. I remember, he was all over the radio from the early 2000’s on, and maybe Jonathan remembered that as well. The album opens with all kinds of noises and background sounds. There is sort of a machine gun sound, providing the drum punchline. Jonathan sings, “I’m rolling down the highway. Knuckles white, my eyes are red. If I can’t drive my Cadillac. I might as well be dead. I’m jamming at a juke joint in Memphis. Everybody look at me. Think I’ll play the blues like Bonamassa. Nasty filthy sleaze”. Then, the song turns into and orchestrated ensemble, that eventually dissolves into the noises, sounds and music that you might have heard on the Beatles’ “Revolution 9”; song off the White Album. This track is not one of my favorites.

“Ol’ Father Time”, opens with some very cool electric guitar and keyboards. One of the best songs on the album so far. Wilson sings, “Here’s a song inside a memory. Of some of the earliest teachings of Ol’ Father Time. He is seen parading around every Saturday. On a see-saw with a raven’s wings on a Sunday drive. Every fall he makes the leaves come off the Trees. As if to say “fuck you all. So tonight…Father Time if you can hear me. Well could you make it better than it was before?” Yes, that is what we all need now. Only the wild and weird space sounds he uses next, may take you off to another realm. But Wilson brings you back “home” with brass, and those cute keyboards that remind me of so many 70s sitcom and evening show soundtracks from the 1970s. Just wonderful! And dare I say groovy!

“Hollywood Vape”, is one of the best songs on the album. Music and sounds from way out of nowhere, fill the air at the outset. So different and complex you will probably cheer, while it is playing. Wilson sings, “I’m busted living in my van on the road. Am I dead? Am I gone? Well, nobody knows. While some rich pricks are colonizing planets in space. Got a big old boner for the spectacle the whole human race. Humans had a real good run, (that big show was fun). Honey, go unleash the dragons thrusting. Purple-black, obsidian, wow, I write like William Blake. And do all these other things ’cause I’m a renaissance machine”. Yeah, a rip through Jonathan’s new home in California; and it is as diverse and crazy as you would have imagined. When he sings, “Hollywood vape”, over and over again, it becomes a hit.

“The Village is Dead”, is all about the changes that have come to the wonderful Bohemian enclave, which was Greenwich Village in New York City. The place where people like Alan Ginsberg read poetry, Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix played guitar and other famous people of the 1960s and 70s lived and created music and words, that live and are, and will be celebrated, way beyond their time. The song opens with an almost disco, or realtor’s advertising whirlwind sound of music. Greenwich Village is a tough place for Wilson to see, today. He sings his frustration for all to hear, “I’m listening to these zoomers play. Down in the basement of Café Wha. They’re trying to make it sound like Stevie Ray. And then they set fire to Jimi Hendrix’s guitar. And we can finally sing it all together: “The village is dead; the village is dead now!”

“Wim Hof”, is an interesting character for Wilson to sing about. Hof, is known as The Iceman. He is a Dutch motivational speaker and extreme athlete. He has an unbelievable ability to resist and withstand cold temperatures. The song, is a dreamy reflection on good times and comradery with friends. Wilson sings, “We were honestly a dreaming crew. Forward thinkers, space-time cadavers”.

Jonathan Wilson – Photo by Andrea Nakhla

“Lo and Behold”, is another of the best songs on the album. A soft guitar and strings, relaxing song, like I remember from Wilson’s earlier albums. A song of reflection for Wilson on where his life’s journey stands, currently. Wilson sings some of his best lyrics here, “ Lo and behold. By the grace of God, I am not in debt. No, I’m not old. Never bored, never sore. I am an islander, and to find success is never happy to be told. Check, share, and give up. I do what I am told. ‘Cause the one who calls the shots. Will never cower to commercial droll, oh droll, oh droll”. However, then, he moves on to society in general, and he sings, “Any normal human can see. Behind the glass menagerie. He can smell the potpourri. And the achy candle-corporate Christmas tree. Any psychedelic Luddite can groom. Any God-fearing crude can take and swoon. A thick sly and a fickle monopoly. They go and cash a little check from the gym and greet. And any quasi-messianic can ride. A symphony-orchestra-vanilla tripe. But any given cracker can go in. With season tickets for the coming year. They say you can’t get it out of me, so I don’t know.
If I’ll make it to the moon rock show”. Will there ever be one? Not with all the countries we have fighting around the world today.Bottom of Form

The next victim or character in Wilson’s “concept’, is “Charlie Parker”. A slow keyboard, drums and guitar parade begins, as Wilson sings, “I was high, I was dry in my warm latrine. I had just settled down with a good magazine. Boston was electric tonight; Larry Bird was on a roll. Every single shot landed; he was on cruise control. Up to Cushing Avenue with your Ma and your Pa. Even Kyle Mooney wondering, “What the hell? What the fuck?” When I slipped him a hundy underneath his little coat. When he reached out, I handed him another C note”. As the violins and strings create a sad and drunk melody, Wilson sings, “ My dreams are out there. Somewhere on that motorway. In the back of a truck, in the rear of a van. In a box stacked head high with life flying by man! I guess it had to be this way? Yeah, a dream, it’s just an ignition point. Causing quite the spark, lighting up the joint. Can I get a witness now? Can anybody show me how? Can anybody help me out?” Either a very bad nightmare or a real life experience, Wilson cannot forget. Either way, a wild ride, for sure. This is yet another extolling, to make the most of life, before the moment passes, forever.

“Hey Love”, is a love song, that almost seems, set to the familiar melody of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Mr. Bojangles”; which was just wonderful, and fits the song perfectly. Wilson sings, “I pass you in the yard every morning. I say, “Hey, love”. I say, “Hey, my love”. And we dance with our eyes in the sunshine. “Don’t we love?” “Don’t we just love?” And we smile ’cause we know that tomorrow. We’ll be seeing one another again. In the world filled with bullshit and sorrow. May it never end!”, all set to wonderful piano and strings. A wonderful “love” song for Wilson’s girlfriend. There were news reports that Wilson might have been dating Lana Del Rey during this time. Maybe the song is meant for her?

“B.F.F.”, Best friends forever, opens with clopping horse shoe sounds, like some old Western; that Wilson might have been watching when he wrote this. Then he switches instruments, to a backfield of horns of all things. Wilson sings, “Cheap white wine, am faded again. There’s nobody on the line. And another life I’ll beat you again. Looking sharp, living clean. I guess I thought for some silly reason. I could always go back there. Oh yeah, back on my bullshit I feel it myself. I have my own supply, stay up all night long. Smoking dope, writing songs. I guess it’s really just a case of do or die”. He has so much fun writing and then singing these songs, “Can we recover from this? Do we lose our home do we lose our innocence? Long ago, so long ago…” More time for reflection.

“East La”, is another interesting look at Wilson’s new home and state of mind in California. He writes and sings about his observations, “At the barbecue of a Hungarian friend. A dude I used to know from New York approached. As he grew near, I felt him weary of me. He asked if I was still the lone wolf. So I asked him, “Hey Paul, how’s that photography biz? Must be pretty fun shooting 35 mm of so many chicks”. Well, guess what? He didn’t answer this. I turned around and poof, he was gone. I am sitting in East Los Angeles”.

“Ridin’ in a Jag”, is the album closer. And Wilson’s closers usually do, pack a punch. This one does as well. Glorified piano, a stringed orchestra, guitars and drums; as if the entire budget has been expended on this last song. Wilson sings, “Let’s pack a bag and get in the Jag. Let’s do it all tonight, baby. See how far we can possibly roam. Let’s make it wild, let’s dress in style. Let’s do it all tonight, baby. You never know until you get in and go. Let’s fuck what we’ve heard, let’s be absurd. Let’s spend it all, baby. Every dime, every dollar, and every word. If what befalls us is more than our share. My life before we met had been a drag. All I did was bullshit around, babe. You could always find me after dark in Echo Park”. He concludes with the lyrics, “It’s more than we can see. But it pulled me into you and you to me. Ain’t it good?” Live life to its completeness, because who knows what tomorrow holds. When you are young, why not? Especially when you have as much money as he has now. Maybe this one is also a song for Lana Del Rey.

Performing along with Jonathan Wilson on Eat the Worm were: Jake Blanton on Hofner bass, electric sitar, toby, and carvery; Drew Erickson, on piano, organ, protonobblywob orchestration, lavichord, harpsichord, and any and all other string and horn arrangements, synths, Wurlitzer, clavinet oh and CS-60; Grant Milliken, on vibraphone, waterphone, and lustraphone; Andrea Nakhla, on Vox Humana, (cute); strings and horns, were performed by Andrew Bulbrook, Miwi La Lupa, Steve Holtman, C.J. Camerieri, Paul Cartwright, Wynton Grant, Christine Kim, and Rita Andrade; string and horn copyist, was performed by Jeremy Borum.

Eat the Worm was mastered at Gateway Mastering. It was recorded at Fivestarstudios. The album artwork was produced by Lacquer Cut, by Bazza*, at Air Lyndhurst Studios. The album was engineered by Grant Milliken, Jonathan Wilson; and mastered by Adam Ayan. It was produced, written and mixed by Jonathan Wilson.

Well, its not a bad album at all. It is actually a fun and interesting album. However, it is not up to the high standards he set, from the beginning. And it is beginning to seem, like a long time ago, and maybe he is running out of ideas. That would be terrible. Because his earlier works were so vivid and interesting.

There are many fun lyrics, in this album, that make every Jonathan Wilson album a joy to hear. But, maybe, this one is too personal. What I mean by this is, that, not too many people have the money, time, or connections to go on adventures like Jonathan Wilson. The connections with your audience begin to fade. So maybe sharing these experiences helps others to escape their situations. Yeah. And maybe Jonathan Wilson needed to get this out of his system and share it with the world? He is entitled to do that as an artist, for sure. But, his loyal audience, which I would consider myself to be; needs something more than boozing, smoking dope and cruising. We want to hear that excellent, innovative guitar work and stories of the desert and Laurel Canyon, that inspired us to listen in the first place. Now I know, no one wants to keep repeating the same thing. But intersperse some of those songs in with the other music you make to keep your fans connected. “Lo and Behold”, almost did that, but one song is not enough. Like I said, I enjoyed the journey Wilson took on Eat the Worm. And I agree with his philosophy, about living life to its fullest, so that you don’t have regrets later. I hope it is time for Jonathan to return to the music which brought us all around to his sound. Or else, some of us, are going to begin to look elsewhere for what we are missing…