The Wallflowers- Bringing Down The Horse

The Wallflowers were formed in 1989. In 1996, four years after their self-titled debut, they released Bringing Down The Horse.

The opening track, One Headlight, is an absolute stunner. I'm always a fan of obscure lyrics, and these  are richly emotive and paint a wonderful series of fragmented images. Although a driving groove is an odd choice, the subtle yet incessant energy from the bass and drums works a treat. So it's actually a stroke of genius! And the icing on the cake is the  backing of the guitar and organ, which is brilliantly layered, yet also creates a sparse and haunting mood. These elements are all fantastic in their own right, so combining them into the same song runs the risk of ending up with a dog's breakfast. But that's the amazing thing, it all sits together perfectly.

6th Avenue Heartache also features the brilliant backing from the organ and steel guitar, but for me the song is let down by an uninspiring chorus. This is exaggerated by the feeling that there's enough material for a good 3 minute song in there, but stretching it to 5 minutes feels like flogging a dead horse.

Bleeder shows potential in places, but overall is a rambling mess. Three Marlenas' problem is that it is burdened with absolutely woeful lyrics. Combined with fairly generic backing music, there's nothing to make this song worthwhile. And Josephine is even more of a shame, because the organ in the background is whipping up a beautifully tortured storm. All that great work is completely undermined by terrible lyrics (exhibit A: "You're so sweet, you must taste like sugar and tangerine").

There's a few attempts at catchy pop songs on the album, with varying degrees of success. The Difference features a great singalong chorus is undoubtably the highlight, but the verses are simply a forgettable way to fill in the time between choruses. Laughing Out Loud works pretty well as generic pop. It lacks any emotional engagement, but that's not really an issue here. But Angel On My Bike is the pick of the bunch for me. The music is a catchy effort which ticks all the pop boxes. But the key difference is the lyrics, which are nicely engaging for a change.

Favourite songs

One Headlight, Angel On My Bike

Worthwhile?

One Headlight is a masterpiece, and in hindsight buying the single would have been a smarter move.

To end with a philosophical note, this album makes me wonder how does a band take such similar musical ingredients and create such a unique and wonderful hit with one song, yet somehow completely miss the mark with its very similar siblings? Or perhaps the real question is: how does a thoroughly uninspiring band somehow create such a unique and beautifully crafted masterpiece?