I’m on a kick for writing Retro CD Reviews: Joel Cage’s 1995 debut album Last Hard Road is still bursting with energy from his aggressive vocal rasp and his gritty acoustic guitar assertions. The entire album is a masterwork as well as an accurate portrait of the artist as a young man. Playing all instruments himself, Cage’s work impresses with how it weaves all of his song together.
Opening track “Stand And Fall” finds Cage whipping up some bluesy, greasy acoustic guitar, a spicy sound that grabs the ear while feeling soulful. Whip smart playing fills the soundscape with a platform for Cage’s emotive hollering shout sing style.
Title track “Last Hard Road” lets Cage showcase his mellower approach. While there is a bit of a march in the acoustic guitar progression, Cage lays out an easygoing vocal glide, hip to the flow of the rhythm without riding it too hard. The contrast, cool as ice, makes the song an engaging piece.
The genteel “Uncomplicated Me” weaves a lilting acoustic guitar melody and a nimble bass line. This backdrop lets Cage showcase his chops with a quiet vocal approach. He fills in the remaining space with his beautifully restrained voice. Hearing Cage’s voice, large in personality and gentle in presentation, placed beside plentiful offerings of guitar notes and a bass nudge, brings his message home with an undeniable honesty.
“Don’t Be A Stranger” gets it power from the peaks and valleys that Cage creates with his vocal dynamics. He’s strong enough to finesse this sparse presentation with his easygoing build ups, from a gentle vocal assertion to moments of soaring sustains and more emphatic assertions during his verses.
“From The Farthest Reaches” gets a mighty strum, Cage putting across his acoustic with fearless and hefty might. Cage also makes his voice jump by leaps and bounds over his tall instrumentation. “The Meaning Of Love” taps into the sadder risks of relationships. Cage’s acoustic guitar makes its usual steady climb yet here it’s laden with a touch of darkness. His ability to manage the melancholy side of love with its hopeful side is impressive.
A cover of Eric Clapton’s “Bell Bottom Blues” shows a lot of talent. Cage’s arrangement lets his guitar skills shine, a finesse of notes, a plaintive vocal, and a feel for blues that permeates. “Contemplating Love” is an introspective song that Cage uses thematically to augment his intricate finger picking technique here. It’s a way of finding the right words to match the sweet tones in the rippling acoustic notes. It works perfectly here as Cage coaxes out his meaning with his twisty, traveling vocal.
Cage’s larger than life vocal fills up a lot of space in “Love Only Equals.” He reaches musical highs and lyrical highs as he takes his gentle time moving through his description of our highest emotion. He augment his words with a large acoustic guitar sound, not just picking notes but making them come to life with perfect accenting.
Cage performs “Run From The Thunder” in a full band format. His snappy acoustic guitar work, his backing vocal and lead vocals jumping through the meter, and a muscular groove from bass guitar and percussion force him to strut through at a lively pace. His hip, alluring approach makes it a fun, bouncy piece while he has the authenticity of a street wise poet.
“No Peace In Dying” continues the rocking pace, a Cage rush of acoustic notes sounding like a slide guitar crying out its pain. He stretches his soulful rasp with hip sustains that travel coolly over his slide guitar and his gritty acoustic. Cage packs this one with a lot of greasy grit.
“New” shows more of Cage’s subtle uses of a bass guitar. His low end nudges this along with a classy understated finesse. That fulsome sound contrasts beautifully with his well accented acoustic notes. Together, bass guitar and acoustic guitar weave a tapestry to lets his smoother than usual vocal approach travel the rails well.
“A Little Faith” is a full blown rock song. Pop style keyboard notes and a tight combo of slick lead guitar and a rocking rhythm section beneath Cage’s swaggering vocal jump out of the stereo speakers. He injects plenty of examples of faith with his voice in and out of the meter with rock star aplomb. Sounding like it might have been intended for another recording, “A Little Faith” makes a good case for Cage’s ability to front a full band and connect with a live audience and or radio listeners.
Closing track “Talkin Carny” is another that sounds like it was intended for another type of album. Yet, its quality speaks for itself. Cage’s strong vocal get sung through a special amplification that makes his sound like he’s in a large concert hall. His fiery lead guitar makes a lot of bands from that 1990s era sound tame. His phrasing is on fire and it fits his large vocal presence perfectly.
Joel Cage was off to a good start with this 1995 solo debut. Last Hard Road reveals a lot of personal reflection and a whole lot of tasteful instrumentation.
