American Gothic – DAVID ACKLES***

American Gothic/Love’s Enough/Ballad Of The Ship Of State/One Night Stand/Oh California/Another Friday Night/Family Band/Midnight Carousel/Waiting For The Moving Van/Blues For Billy Whitecloud/Montana Song

American Gothic is the most acclaimed album from the singer songwriter David Ackles. Despite the media hype at the time of release sales remained disappointingly modest. (US:167)

“It really is a crime that so few people listen to such masterpieces as American Gothic. Lyrically, Ackles' songs reveal a true poetic sensibility as well as great affinity for stage-writing. I do not believe that any songwriter has written lyrics as intelligent, powerful and dramatic as its title song, while Midnight Carousel seems a showcase for his dramatic and storytelling genius.”

“As its title suggests, American Gothic is an attempt to paint a kaleidoscopic picture of American life through a series of character narratives and internal monologues. As sprawling a project as this may sound, Ackles manages to avoid the pitfall of overreaching, in attempts to be all-inclusive by imagining himself quite snugly into extremely focused and well-drawn characters and situations.”

“Ackles lives in a world populated by characters struggling against the constraints of life, where the morals and opinions of the masses press down, snuffing out any essence of individuality. A case of conform or get out. Because of these rigid strictures, this lack of social development, Ackles could be singing of life a century ago or situated in isolated, claustrophobic communities where modernity has yet to penetrate. Where people lock themselves away inside clapboard houses and indulge in dreams and vices hidden from the disapproving gazes of the neighbours.”

“Ackles has a wonderfully novelistic, narrative style that beautifully captures the flip side of the American dream, from dead end relationships and one night stands to the emptiness of the single life that pervades several tracks here. Others hark back to simpler times and echo with a loss of community and religion that by the early 70s was becoming more and more widespread.”

“Ackles has a really idiosyncratic style, combining the confessional storytelling of other songwriters of his era with a huge does of musical theatre, particularly cabaret and American musicals, with borderline novelistic lyrics. It's a weird amalgam that mostly doesn't just work but wows.”