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The Ike Reilly Assassination
We Belong to the Staggering Evening
(Rock Ridge)
First Appeared in The Music Box, May 2007, Volume 14, #5
Written by John Metzger
The title to We Belong to the Staggering Evening, Ike Reilly’s fourth
proper solo outing, evokes a particular mood, a feeling, a tone. It is a bold
proclamation that alludes to something that is grandly immense, brimming with
confidence, and larger than life. Whether its songs provide the soundtrack for
late-night, backyard barbecues or longtime friends crawling through the city in
search of the next pub, whether they conjure images of a down-on-his-luck loner
who is searching the streets of Mexico for something to mask his pain (Valentine’s
Day in Juarez) or the scrappy hotheads who fight their way through When
Irish Eyes Are Burning, one thing is certain: These dark portraits have been
marinated in alcohol, and they have been baked under the intense heat of the
summer sun.
Shrugging off the disengaged apathy that toppled much of his previous effort
Junkie Faithful, Reilly fills We Belong to the Staggering Evening
with gritty realism, and the hard-nosed force with which he drives his band is
what brings his songs to life. As has been the case with all of his best work —
not the least of which was his stellar debut Salesmen & Racists — the
outing sounds as if it sprang from a whiskey-soaked session in which Bob Dylan
and Steve Earle commingled with The Replacements and The Pogues. Its melodies
are easy to grasp, but not leaving anything to chance, Reilly throttles them
into submission. Energetic, unflinching, unabashed, and alive, this is the way
that rock ’n‘ roll was meant to be heard.
The hand claps and clattering guitars that kick off 8 More Days Till the 4th
of July briefly flash with a touch of U2’s Desire — that is, until
Reilly unleashes a stampeding refrain that mockingly dares religion to save him,
despite the fact that he has no intention of seeking forgiveness for his sins.
Later, against I Hear the Train’s violently churning backdrop, he slams
the door on his spiritual awakening by defiantly declaring, "fuck the train."
With equal aplomb, Reilly sideswipes America’s social and political climates in
Fish Plant Uprising, It’s Hard to Make Love to an American, and
Let’s Get Friendly, and just when it appears as if he has played every trick
in his book, he allows a Beach Boys-style motif to arise from within the
punk-fueled ’50s-rock of You’re So Plain.
Each song on We Belong to the Staggering Evening is an anthem for the
disenchanted and the disaffected, but rather than try to heal open wounds or
provide any kind of empathy, Reilly’s solution is simply to use sex, drugs, and
good old-fashioned rock ’n‘ roll to numb the pain. Instead of searching for
excuses, he embraces the murky darkness of his characters’ lives, and by
allowing his music to wash away their tensions, he provides all of the salvation
that they ever are likely to want or need. 
We Belong to the Staggering Evening is available from
Amazon.com. To order, Click Here!
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2007 The Music Box
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