Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Never mind walking a mile in another’s person’s shoes, that only teaches you a partial history of their life, to understand their existence, the things they have seen, the views they have held and the lives they have seen rise, fall and become history, then the only way to experience empathy is to heed them when they say view life Through My Eyes.
Compassion and empathy somehow still seems an alien concept to many, too quick to dismiss someone’s fears, too acid-tongued in thought to dispense ridicule and scorn, and far too abrupt to care unless it concerns them directly, we can only believe what our own sight can see or envision; if we see the world through polarised lenses, then how can someone else to whom we have no known association ever be correct when they say the view is different from their side.
We all have a history, some of it may be chequered, bleak and often wrapped in pain, but it is nonetheless a life that can be written and looked back with the immense pleasure of having lived, having survived, and being able to warn others of potential pitfalls along the way; no person is so unscarred by life that it does not show the healed wound off with grim satisfaction.
So, it is to the excellent John Blues Boyd and his new album Through My Eyes, a recording not only a life, but of those he has been able to witness, that this wound runs deep, true, and shining of glory. We may not be able to comprehend the life but we can see the scars, we can understand inflicted damage and the rage against the storm he has endured and taken part in. How many of us for example can say we marched alongside one of the greatest orators and most compassionate of people in Martin Luther King, that we have stood up for something and against the devilry of the Klan. It is this life we are asked to see and across songs such as What My Eyes Have Seen, Ran Me Out Town, Why Did You Take That Shot, That Singing Roofer and Got To Leave My Mark, the sheer poetry and expression rings out like the Liberty Bell, the feeling of liberty and justice is complete.
Blues may have undergone its renaissance period as the new century dawned, but in this remarkable album it witnesses history being made. In Through My Eyes we are given a lesson in empathy, and it is one to accept with no compromise.
John Blues Boyd releases Through My Eyes on March 4th on Gulf Coast Records.
Ian D. Hall