TESTIMONY

Testimony". Yeah, that's what it is. On a personal level, it was an album that I listened to a lot for a couple of years recently, while I was I was living and working in South America. It really inspired me at times when I needed inspiration, So that's my starting point when trying to sum up my view here. To me, it's one of the greatest albums made this decade. The dynamics, the innovation, nice paraphrasing of other people's works and the sheer joy he seemed to put into it - that makes it all overwhelming.

Morse starts out telling us about life as a struggling musician in California, waiting for his career to really happen, while waking up in hotel rooms every morning and making a living out of cover songs he had already gotten tired of. Then a journey begins, taking him from Los Angeles to - of all places - Nashville, and a new lease on life. Musically, it just gets more inspired, more versatile and with almost humorous diversions. If you've seen the DVD with the concert you might remember his confession that a song like Sing it high" almost didn't make it to the final cut. I thought it was too country or something... as he comments.

Without overanalyzing, I really like and feel moved by ballads such as "I am willing" and "It's all I can do", and likewise the instrumental interludes connecting the dots. It took some time for me to fully appreciate this album as a whole, and I suspect others might react the same way. First I tended to compare with Spock's Beard and Transatlantic (naturally) and the sound here is slightly more 'bluesy', Beatlesque and sometimes gospel-influenced. But the entirety really has range, and an athmosphere that just keeps getting thicker. "Testimony" drew me in little by little, and it still does when I return to it now, a few years later.