Easton, Tim - Ammunition

I have this very small group of bands, for lack of a better term let’s call them Batting a Thousands (BATs). These are bands that invariably produce albums that I will love. It’s difficult in this day and age, where bands continually strive for reinvention.

It’s hard enough for a band to produce 3-4 great records in a row. Think U2 right after Zooropa, or Radiohead since The Bends. A few might come to mind for you, but after a few weeks ago, there is only one band, one left, that has a perfect record. That band is Wilco. They have produced seven studio albums, and all of them are excellent.

A few weeks ago, there was another BAT, a little known songwriter by the name of Tim Easton. He has produced four albums now, the blistering roots-rock of Special 20, a pleasantly baroque The Truth About Us, the pristinely produced, Jackson Browne-influenced Break Your Mother’s Heart and his latest release, Ammunition.

Those first three are excellent, and I strongly recommend picking them up. Witnesses to Easton’s stripped down live show can attest to his ability to strum a mighty folk tune, but Easton also excels in adding flourishes to his studio releases, building acoustic ballads into vivid soundscapes. For evidence of this, check out “I Would’ve Married You” on The Truth About Us or the beautiful “The Man That You Need” on Break Your Mother’s Heart.

In light of his last three albums, Ammunition, released two weeks ago, is a bit of a letdown. It’s difficult to pinpoint one single primary flaw, but quite a few factors add up. Easton’s past albums have always started with strong tracks that hit on the tip of your tongue, priming you for the songs that follow, but Ammunition’s opener, “Black Dog” is boring and lacks a solid melody. The next track, “Oh People,” is better, but still doesn’t satisfy.

Even with a series of awesomely-talented guests (Lucinda Williams, Tift Merritt and The Jayhawks’ Gary Louris), many of these songs are underwhelming. The album breaks out briefly with the bluesy “News Blackout” and “C-Dub”, which vocally sounds lifted from Bob Dylan.

The track I can’t figure out is “J.P.M.F.Y.E.”, a slowly strummed diatribe against judgmental Christians. The theme is excellent, an honest look from an outside source at a problem that many professing Christians refuse to acknowledge: “They’re screaming from my television/While stealing from the hand that feeds them” and “While walking shoulder to shoulder with greed and violence/To the ones who would start wars in your name.” I only wish the chorus hadn’t been lifted from a bumper sticker cliché: “Jesus, protect me from your followers.”

One Easton trademark sticks around with positive results: ending an album with some of the stronger tracks. “I Don’t Wanna Come Home” and “Sitting on Top of the World” fit the mold well.

No musician can weave gold every time. In the hands of a lesser songwriter, this album would be decent, but, as is, Tim Easton’s Ammuntion misses its mark.