FEATURE:
Second Spin
Nerina Pallot - Fires
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THIS is an example…
of a Second Spin where the featured album was reviewed positively, yet you do not hear the songs from it played as widely and frequently on the radio as we should. The album today is Nerina Pallot’s excellent second album, Fires. Having not released an album since 2017’s Stay Lucky, I wonder whether we will hear more from her? The London-born songwriter has had such a successful and consistent career, where all of her albums have been positively received. Released in April 2005 on her own label, Idaho Records, Fires was greeted with big acclaim from critics. That said, it was a bit lukewarm in terms of its commercial performance. I suppose this feature is also designed to direct people to the album in general. I am not sure whether you can get it on vinyl at the moment. If you can get it on C.D., I would advise people to spend some money on it. The story of how Pallot came to prominence and got signed to 14th Floor Records is interesting. She was working as a support act for Sheryl Crow and Suzanne Vega – two legends who could detect Pallot’s huge talent. Getting a lot of love from audiences, Fires got re-released in April 2006. Despite this, the album got to forty-one on the U.K. album chart. Listening now, it is baffling why more people did not buy Fires! I feel that, were it released today, it would fare much better.
Perhaps changing trends or a lack of awareness meant that a golden album like this was sorely overlooked. With singles like Everybody’s Gone to War doing well, Fires did climb as high as twenty-one. Since its initial slow start, Fires has sold well in excess of 100,000 copied (in 2009, the total sales were 138,563). Every one of the eleven tracks were written by Pallot. She is such an inspiring and distinct songwriter who matches incredibly memorable and personal lyrics with vocal performances and composition. That mean every tracks begs for re-investigation and love. There are so many songs on the album that you do not hear that often. Halfway Home, Sophia and Learning to Breathe are incredible tracks that should be played often and widely. I want to bring in a couple of reviews for Fires to show what critics have made of it. Whereas, in some parts of this series, I look at an album that gained mixed reviews and got good sales/an album that was poorly reviewed and sold really well, this is a case of one that won critics but did not find a huge audience. Maybe a slightly underwhelming commercial performance can be explained by the sounds of 2005. Fires highlights Pallot’s influences such as Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon. In 2005, albums from Gorillaz, Bloc Party, Sleater-Kinney, The White Stripes, M.I.A., and Franz Ferdinand were ruling. Perhaps Fires was out of step with what consumers were buying that year – or the music media did not cover the album as widely and passionately as they should have.
Regardless, I want to document a couple of positive reviews. The Guardian had their say in 2005. Although they identify the fact Pallot wears her influences on her sleeves at times, they were impressed with what they heard:
“If you're going to steal, steal from the best, and Nerina Pallot makes no bones about her musical debts to Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon. But there's much more than mere mimicry on this intriguing record. It opens with the scintillating blast of Everybody's Gone to War, in which Pallot re-creates the protest song as amped-up powerpop with a lethal chorus and chilling lines such as: "I've got a friend, he's a pure-bred killing machine, I think he might be dead by Christmas." Elsewhere, the classically trained and partly French Pallot (pronounced "Pallow") scatters fresh melodic ideas and crafty narrative twists all around her, as in the reminiscences of her first steps in the music business, the philosophy and scintillating harmonies of Learning to Breathe, or the little twist of Michel Legrand in the back-to-front romance of Geek Love. The more you listen to it, the better it gets”.
I have been listening to Fires on and off since 2005. I knew about Nerina Pallot before that, yet it was this album that really made her stand out. I think Fires still sounds current today. Many artists since have released albums similar in tone and sound.
I am going to conclude with a review from Music Box. Kirk deCordova provided his take on an album that, to me, is one of the best of Pallot’s career so far. There are so many great tracks on a very fulsome and appealing album:
“Those unfamiliar with Nerina Pallot — pronounced "Ne-ree-nah Pall-o" — probably aren’t alone. Pallot’s career was launched in 2001 with the release of her debut album, the under-appreciated Dear Frustrated Superstar, though it stalled almost as soon as it began. While mulling over her options, which included becoming an English teacher, the gifted Pallot fortunately chose to continue singing and writing songs. These efforts culminated in her sophomore effort Fires, which initially was issued in 2005. After falling upon deaf ears, the outing has been re-mastered and repackaged by a new label, and subsequently, it’s being given a fresh marketing push. Throughout the affair, Pallot brings much to the table including a versatile and pleasing voice, inventive melodies, and thoughtful lyrics that are sprinkled liberally with philosophical allusions. Blending folk, rock, and pop into a shiny package, she offers vocals that are reminiscent of Joni Mitchell, Sheryl Crow, Paul Simon, and Carole King. Nevertheless, although she has been influenced by some of music’s greatest artists, she still retains a sparkling and sarcastic wit as well as an intelligence that brands her work as refreshingly original.
Whether featuring guitar or demonstrating intricate piano styling, Fires is packed to the brim with elegant and, at times, playful tracks. The album begins with the politically minded rocker Everybody’s Gone to War, a 1960s- style protest song that boasts such pointed lyrics as:
"I’ve got a friend, he’s a pure-bred killing machine,
He says he’s waited his whole damn life for this,
I knew him well when he was seventeen,
Now he’s a man he’ll be dead by Christmas”.
Throughout Fires, Pallot ruminates upon an array of topics and emotions that include expressions of life, death, depression, joy, loneliness, regret, and self-examination, all of which are delivered with a serious yet whimsical attitude. Some songs of note on the album include the lyrical masterpiece Damascus, and the wonderfully orchestrated and haunting Idaho, the latter of which features the lyrics:
"I can’t be anyone but me…
And I can’t keep dreaming that I’m free…
I don’t want to fall asleep and watch my life from fifty feet,
My hands are on the wheel so I’m driving to Idaho,
Cause I hear it’s mighty pretty…in Idaho"
The song that may prove to be the gem of Fires, however, is the simply produced and introspective Mr. King. This philosophical track is drenched with the influences of Paul Simon and Paul McCartney, and it’s a delightful excursion that gains resonance the more that it is heard. Elsewhere, Pallot’s wit is on display during the comical and infectious Geek Love, a tongue-in-cheek popper with a bouncing, carnival-esque lilt. Equally intriguing is Sophia, a ballad of desperate, burning, and unfilled love that has become a highlight of her concerts as she confesses:
"Sophia, Sophia, I’m burning, I’m burning,
It’s a fire, a fire I cannot put out,
Sophia, Sophia I’m learning that some things I can’t go without,
And one of those is him".
I think radio shows should play Fires more. If you have not bought or heard the album, go and spend a moment or two with it. Nerina Pallot is one of our best artists. A wonderful songwriter who I hope will record more music, Fires is a beautiful and often hugely affecting album that deserved a bigger commercial performance. I feel songwriters like Laura Marling have been inspired by Pallot. A writer of incredible vision, scope and potency, Nerina Pallot’s Fires is an album that everyone…
NEEDS to hear.