Velvet Fog. The Studio Recordings. Chris and Carla

It is ten years ago that The Walkabouts has released its latest album. They were one of my absolute favourites of the 90s. Starting with 'New West Motel', a string of albums was released that were stunning in quality, until late in the decade the band slowly but surely seemed to make itself redundant. The albums became ever more bare and seemed to work towards the point that total silence would have been reached. The front duo Chris and Carla had split up by then, Chris moved to Ljubljana in Slovenia, while the rest lived in Seattle. The success in Europe diminished by the tour, so most likely it became too expansive for the Seattle, Washington based band members to come over. Somewhere in between this development, Chris and Carla toured as a duo and from there recorded as a duo as well. My favourite is a live album recorded in Thessaloniki, where they play a near impromptu gig with Greek musicians, creating a beautiful hybrid album of western and eastern Europe music. The live albums are not part of this box.

A few years ago Glitterhouse Records released a box set of studio recordings by the band. Late in 2020 it released the Chris and Carla studio albums in a box set called Velvet Fog, after one of the songs. I had missed the release at the time, making up for it today. It turned out I had missed more that just the box set with two albums that I have. There is a third album I simply did not know the existence of. The duo released an album in 2007 called 'Fly High Brave Dreamers', recorded in Ljubljana, in between of the last two The Walkabouts albums. Yes, it is possible to miss an album. Thank you Glitterhouse for putting me on to the release, because it is everything I would dream a Chris and Carla album to be. The beauty and the beast voices, the typical Americana folk songs of Chris Eckman, his rough lead guitar over the softer melodies. Most of all the quality of the songs are so alright. Where 'Life Full Of Holes', an album I love to hear, and 'Swinger 500', an album that I perhaps played twice, are more experimental, 'Fly High Brave Dreamers' could have been an excellent The Walkabouts album but is an excellent Chris and Carla album.

Promo photo

'Life Full Of Holes' is an album that explores what can be done with western folk songs in an exotic context. The album contains mysterious sounds and atmospheres, caught while travelling through remote parts of Morocco. Partly on the trail of Brian Jones and other Rolling Stones decades before. The album contains several beautiful songs that demand attention and perhaps even a little stamina because it doesn't travel the highway of Americana and folk but the sandy byways through the desert and mountains of the 'Sand And Gravel'.

'Swinger 500' just did not connect. More electronic sounds and distancing melodies put themselves between me and one of my favourite artists of the day. The divide simply was too broad to breach safely. Come 2021 and I'm playing 'Swinger 500' and sincerely am wondering what was wrong with my ears circa 1998. It turns out to be an album full of mysterious yet beautiful songs. In a way this box set does not give me one but two new albums, with one difference: I do remember several of the songs on 'Swinger 500', so perhaps played the album a few more times after all, but certainly not recently. The shock is more in how long ago that last time might be and the passing of time.

The more surprising is the third album that I simply missed. And yes, it contains a jazzy track like 'Rising Backwards', with a muted trumpet and an upright bass, but Carla is singing with her warm voice, so what can possibly go wrong here. "Chris and Carla at the diner", a bright spotlight and cigarette smoke does the trick.

With Velvet Fog Glitterhouse Records presents the studio efforts of the duo that deserve a nice re-release. Chris and Carla were able to experiment more as a duo and did. With a third album that perhaps financially could not be made as a band but most likely should have. It would have been fantastic. All together it makes a beautiful box set by two uniquely attuned singers, that most likely will never make music together again. That is the way things go over time more often than not, so enjoy what we do have.

Wo.

You can order Velvet Fog here:

https://mailorder.glitterhouse.com/album/2/americana--roots-rock/1129976/velvet-fog-the-studio-recordings-(box-set)-(pre-order-voe1112).html

or listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g