American Gothic - David Ackles : Electra.

Reviewed by Redmer Yska

David Ackles' first record in two years has been well worth waiting for. A cycle of twelve songs drawing on a wide variety of musical styles, it achieves a coherent unity comparable only to the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper. Ackles' rediscovery of himself through his contemplation of vanishing America is the theme of the record.

Billy Whitecloud is typical of Ackles strangely droll humour. It is a song about an Indian brave who grows up to bomb his high school: When we found him, he was dancing on his tom-tom. The arrangement is a boogie-woogie blues that is almost straight Jolson.

Aaron Copeland the well-known American composer, seems to be the influence on Montana Song, a ten minute 'symphonic poem' — the major work on the album. It deals with a man returning to the land of his ancestors to learn about himself and his heritage.

Drawing together the many images on this record, Ackles is showing us the face of America. I see Montana Song as the whole album in miniature in terms of what he is trying to say. Ackles contrasts the paucity and superficiality of the contemporary experience with the solid foundations that existed: the good if austere life his pioneer forefathers lived and believed in Ackles' realisation and revelation is achieved:

I went out to Montana
With a bible on my arm
Looking for my fathers
On a long abandoned farm
And I found what I came looking for.

Bernie Toupin was the producer and Ackles himself is responsible for the flawless arrangements. This is an impressive and original record that deserves a wide audience.