Home > FEATURES > Listen Again | Joan Osborne: Relish (Polygram 1995)

Listen Again | Joan Osborne: Relish (Polygram 1995)

Joan Osborne has become known in recent years as an interpreter of other classic songwriters. Her recordings of Dylan standards, Stax/Motown soul and cheesy 80s and 90’s fare have earned many accolades, but she started in the business as a songwriter of depth and raw emotion. Helped along by the songwriting chops and musicianship of Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman of the Hooters who had also worked with Cyndi Lauper as she got established, the tracks on “Relish” immediately made the public and critics sit up and take notice earning several Grammy nominations. If nothing else, the impact of this little record assured a long career in the music industry.

Leading off is the remarkable “St. Teresa” with that unmistakable Hooters mandolin sound. Atmospheric and darkly epic, this is an ambitious way to introduce us to the themes of those on the fringes struggling to survive in cityscapes and rural areas. Organ swells drive the song to an ecstatic height then the mandolin plays us out. The lost and perhaps drug-addicted soul is left to continue her path. Next up is her take on Dylan’s “Man in the Long Black Coat”. This does not feature the Hooters band members but reflects the same atmospheric texture. Acoustic and electric guitars chime way back in the mix as Osborne’s voice rises above the bed of sound. A tasteful solo from Rick DiFonzo only adds to the performance.

The pace is so controlled it creates an edginess in the listener waiting for the tension to break. It never does. Things liven up quickly with the raunchy “Right Hand Man”, “let me use your toothbrush, have you got a clean shirt”. An obvious one-night stand is detailed in all its glory, “I’ve been on the floor looking for a chair, I’ve been on a chair looking for a couch, I’ve been on a couch looking for a bed”. The Hooters are back for a rambunctious ramble right up there with the best of the Dylan and The Band sessions. The barroom piano drives the song with plenty of percussion to assist. Bazilian chimes in with a classic saxophone solo because that’s what you do in these tales. The first three tracks play to Osborne’s exceptional strengths- left-of-center moody pop, tasteful covers presented with lived-in emotion, and raucous small club rock n’ roll. “Pensacola” circles back to stories from the fringe of society, stately guitar and organ form a backdrop, “I’ve sold my blood for money, there wasn’t any pain” is the line from a trailer park denizen. “Don’t waste your time in looking, there’s nothing left to find” is the message as the narrator moves on from Pensacola. “Dracula Moon” follows with guitar and harmonica drawing us into a bluesy tale with a long intro to set the tone.

“What if the cure is worse than the disease”, “Don’t feel sorry for me” Osborne intones as she’s “naked in a hotel room” while the harmonica and electric piano weave around her elastic voice. Bazilian then rips off a classic guitar solo leading into a dark bridge as all the instruments chug away. The ragged edge to Joan’s singing in the bridge echoes years of struggle, “You said come back home, I said I’m just falling from grace” with “falling” echoing and echoing on the outro. Next up is the most famous track from Osborne’s career prefaced by a field recording of “The Airplane Ride” from Neil Lomax immediately segueing into Eric Bazilian’s “One of Us”, nominated as Song of the Year at the Grammys. This classic song has been covered over and over again, famously by Prince, but this remains the definitive version. Picturing God as “just one of us” meandering through the struggles of life just as we all do. “What would you ask if you had just one question?”, this is a timeless track and showcases what is great about rock n’ roll. It dives deep and connects with the listener viscerally. “Just a stranger on the bus trying to make his way home”. It immediately skews our perception making us see from a new perspective. The music is simple and unobtrusive guitar, piano, bass, and drums. “Nobody calling on the phone ‘cept for the Pope maybe in Rome”.

This is followed by “Ladder” which has a cool sample from T. Rex’s classic “Mambo Sun”.  Singing in a higher register soaring over the cool groove and heartfelt organ this a throwback soulful track highlighting her proficiency with traditional Stax funk. The lyrics are slight but the sound is powerful. “I dreamed about Ray Charles last night” opens “Spider Web”, a percussion-heavy loping groove with Larry Campbell on fiddle and another artist playing “virtual fiddle” whatever that means. It seems there’s a spiderweb in Ray Charles’s head! “Threads are stuck to me and you” rings as the guitar chugs away. The group vocals add a ragged party atmosphere to the arrangement. Hopefully, Ray Charles enjoyed this oddball tribute. “Let’s Just Get Naked” is a bit of a cliché tune about those awkward personal politics. Osborne slurs her words to play a character “How long till they shut off the phone”, times are tough, but one can do as the title says. “Help Me” is an old Sonny Boy Williamson track and Osborne again shows her ability to inhabit someone else’s song.

Sympathetic slide guitar and harmonica let us feel the juke joint attitude as the dust swirls around swaying dancers. For five minutes the small band swings around the classic blues groove. “Crazy Baby” is a solo composition driven by electric piano captured live in the studio continuing the bluesy feel from the last track. “As you light your twenty-seven cigarettes, how long have you been sitting in the darkness, you forget”. Again, the atmosphere is all on this album. The album’s closer “Lumina” is just voice, guitar, and subtle keyboard tones. It could almost be an introduction to the opening track, so we feel a circular motif occur, another piece about a character outside of it all. Osborne’s willingness to inhabit each song whether she wrote it or chose it is the key takeaway here as well as the Sympatico musicianship of true professionals.

Charlotte County resident Stephen MacKnight works for Anglophone South & Working NB after a decade spent as a music teacher in the school system and twenty-five years in the music retail industry cycling through Sam the Record Man, Records on Wheels and CDPlus. There have been nominations from ECMA’s & Music NB as a band-member and songwriter. Passionate and opinionated about music Stephen loves when anyone wants to have a debate. 

You may also like
UPDATED: No clear timeline for repairs to water issues in St. Stephen, boil water advisory continues
Charlotte County woman declared dead by Service Canada
Issue with water line, pump caused boil water advisory in St. Stephen: mayor
St. Stephen boil water advisory continues for a third day

Leave a Reply