Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Listening to Ben Sures’ new album Gone To Bolivia, one cannot help but be struck by the mood, the picture of life that he draws with his music in the same way that you would expect the likes of Constable, Pitman or even Frederic Marlett’s Bell-Smith to paint and observe existence, for there seems to be something much deeper going on in the subject’s appearance than first taken for granted in the beauty that is framed.
Perhaps it is with this in mind that Ben Sures won, quite rightly the John Lennon Songwriting Competition. For surely it takes a man who can look at life and describe completely what he visualises in the hope, no matter how small, that someone else really gets what he is able to see. Gone To Bolivia does exactly that and combines delicate, intelligent and sensitive music by Ben Sures, Brian Kobayakawa, Don Kerr, John Showman, Michael Holy and Tim Bovaconti with an array of talented vocalists, none so more as Mr. Sures and Caroline Brooks, in tracks that melt the heart, stiffen the heart against injustice and western ignorance and wallow in the splendour of nostalgia.
The American appeal for story-telling, the image of the hobo travelling through towns, villages and busy cities is the abiding representation cast by Ben Sures as he takes the listener through tracks such as American Shantytown, the wonderful ode to the Kinks legend Ray Davis in High School Steps, the eye opening truth of Everybody Matters and the mastery of longing in The Boy Who Walked Backwards Through The Snow in such a way that a tear of wanting to belong to this way of life might just run silently down your cheek.
Gone To Bolivia is the culmination of the intoxicating rhythmic feel of Bob Dylan at his most poetic, seared with the ability to weave the truth of life, whether frustrating, joyful or full of sorrow, around a playful and beautiful tune. The whimsical startling nature of the Canadian people’s way of seeing the world beyond their window and the refreshing way in which they take stock of their honest and innocent view. Ben Sures compassionate look at the world, his ability in which he reflects on the past is second to none.
Ian D. Hall