Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Not only is there is still room for the concept album to exist, it is vital for it to be expressed and developed so that the oral tradition of telling stories does not disappear down the same rabbit hole that reading a novel seems to have an experienced, uncared for a society that has allowed itself to slowly diminish in many quarters the ability to concentrate on the long-term picture, the joy of losing oneself in a narrative that is in fact the companion to which we never tire, the guide to which a three minute burst of song cannot surely hope to compete with.
The concept though is one that can be the finest of examples of parody and self-caricature, not one enveloped in sarcasm or indeed loathing, but of understanding of the subject at hand, and in that expression of infallibility, stands the tale that grips, like The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust, it requires the hero to be seen and the eventual collapse, the ruin, of all that held is aloft as an ideal, as a marker on human creativity.
Ghosts Of Sunset’s John Merchant and Todd Lang are Headed West in their search for the telling concept that epitomises the rise and fall of the Hair Metal genre, a subject perhaps that even in times considered bordering on decadence and excess, might not find favour amongst the fandom of music, and yet fits in subtly with the way many new listeners today look at the music once offered as an anathema to the concerns of the youth and gender politics that has overtaken the ritual of expression from another time.
By offering Headed West in such a way, one in which older fans of the genre will reminisce of the times spent in a surfeit of beautiful expression befitting the times, and which a more conscious approach by the younger generation will see as proof that their elders have always been easily corrupted by fame, fortune and fast living, the best of both worlds will have been reached, and with the six songs being exquisitely delivered, Ghosts Of Sunset become a revelation worth savouring.
Like all concept albums, the music listener requires discipline, this is not a set of songs in which to delve in and out of, but the reward for such self-control is to be found in appreciating the tale weaved, and in the tracks Headed West, Miles In Between, Never Goodbye, It’s Not Over, and Try It For Love, and with seriously pleasurable input from the likes of Tim Mosher, Tracii Guns, Bruno Ravel, Adam Hamilton, Brian Roth, Johnny Monaco and Kent Slucher, Ghosts of Sunset is a tremendous exploration into the unfailing power of the narrative spirit of the concept project.
Absolutely appealing, unrestrained but completely disciplined, Ghosts of Sunset have scored an absolute hit, one to sit down and experience throughout.
Ghosts Of Sunset’s Headed West is out now and available from Golden Robot Records.
Ian D. Hall