It’s just cold-and sometimes such cold nights happen… Sleet rushes to warm up, hiding under the collar, but more often, with a cry of “the Russians are coming!”, it dies on the sidewalk. The dim headlights of rare cars stare viciously into the darkness of doorways, picking out the mincing shadows of communist spies with pockets stuffed with microfilm. The girls on the corner croak hoarsely, watching the passerby with the eyes of wet vultures. In the bar across the street, firefighters are fighting a fire in their throats with flammable liquids – firefighter Waterhouse has a son, Nicholas Ryan. Growing up, Nick will also inhale the stench of the back streets where Black Dahlias screamed, hear the worship of John Lee Hooker and the prayers of Van Morrison.
His first band will be Intelligista, where Nick will perform as a singer, guitarist and songwriter. The band broke up in 2003, and after graduating from high school, young Waterhouse went to the University of San Francisco to roll the boulder of science onto the mountain of knowledge. Only in 2010, having assembled an accompanying line-up called The Tarots, having recorded on analog equipment, Nick Waterhouse will release the debut single Some Place/That Place. The vinyl edition of the single, printed artistically, is a rarity ten years later, which Farts is pushing three hundred “Washingtons” apiece.
In 2012, “Time‘s All Gone” was followed by a longplay on Innovative Leisure Records (Medvedev’s favorite word), a tour of the States, a tour of Europe, and more tours of Europe. The song “Katchi”, remixed by the Offenbach duo, reaches the first position in the French charts. Released in 2019, the album is the fourth in the artist’s discography, but the first with the original name “Nick Waterhouse“. The style is unchanged: a cocktail of “blue-eyed” soul, colorful rhythm and blues, aggressive big beat. A pair of olives and an umbrella. Na zdorovye!!!
The first sip is a refreshing mambo-like “By Heart”, flavored with feline backing tracks and a cascade of brass instruments. The perfect soundtrack for the three hundred and seventy-seventh assassination attempt on Fidel. The agent was killed, the dictator survived…
“Song For Winners” belongs to the era of the “British Invasion”. The guitar intro and the “sandpaper” vocals conjure up the band Them, performing something from Johnny Kidd. The saxophone “I Feel An Urge Comin’ On” coughs like a malicious raven – that same “blue-eyed” soul, impetuous and exciting. The beach, the radio, the bikini. A wave of increasing urge. To dance.
The “Undedicated” walks elegantly, dressed in a black tuxedo from an expensive tailor. He wears a gold watch with a hidden garrote on his arm, and his armpits are soaked in chloroform. Stops, shoots at the camera. Cut! From a single take. “Black Glass” is sung with the intonations of Eric Burdon in Her Majesty’s Secret Service. If in doubt, the spy guitar riff completely fails the residency. Sachs is “coltraning” little by little.
“Wreck The Rod” is simply enchanting. Great piano part, wonderful arrangement. This song would have done credit to Elvis in 1965.
Bug-eyed hydrocephalus from the planet Zorch-9 will invade Earth under the song “Which Was Writ”. Stealthily. Dancing slightly.
“Man Leaves Town” is minimalistic in chords, but rich in keys. Again, it is somewhat Them-shaped. In the last verse, someone slammed the door of the banshee, this sound was successfully captured on film. The melancholic ballad “Thought & Act” sends shivers down my spine like bison on the prairies with its chorus. A hungover Pan lazily blows into a hoarse flute. Always end your bacchanalia with this song. A diamond of rare purity and cut.
The instrumental “El Viv” is built on a mind-numbing guitar riff. Consciousness puts up images. A Hollywood party, pointless and carefree. Waiters who dream of becoming movie actors, moonlighting as whores in Pasadena. The Caribbean crisis won’t happen until tomorrow… “Wherever She Goes (She Is Wanted)”, completing the record, puts a bold ellipsis, at the same time evoking the restless spirit of Del Shannon. Don’t worry, this is just one of the abilities of Real Music!
To sum up, I’d like to inform you that by exposing both sides of midnight, the album was truly enjoyable with its melodism, subtle arrangements, and even a touch of postmodernism that would spoil a less thoughtful artist. To some, the music is shots fired in Dallas, but to me, it’s Nick Waterhouse. The East is turning purple, Moon Dogs!
