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‘The Ruby Sea’, Thin White Rope’s final album, shows that this band split at the height of their powers. This is their most accomplished and carefully crafted set of songs. The raw Desert Rock power of earlier records, guitars played at the edge of distortion, is refined here to give a cleaner sound and show the band as masters of their art. The record has a world-weary, slightly melancholic air. Songs like ‘Hunters Moon’ and ‘Puppet Dog’ build up tension and drama gradually through guitar riffs and insistent drumming but in a controlled way. Guy Kyser’s vocals are strong and powerful throughout, conveying his tales of regret, failure and small-town weirdness with powerful emotion. The record is richly varied: ‘Christmas Skies’ and ‘Bartender’s Rag’ are nearly straight-up country in their sound, the latter’s amusingly self-critical lyric of alcohol dependency being particularly well-served by this style. But there is great power too, ‘The Fish Song’ is a real hair-raising rock monster with a terrific lyric about ‘the one that got away’ – a reference to the band’s lack of commercial success perhaps? There is even room for a delicate duet with a female vocalist on the lovely ‘Up to Midnight’ ‘The Ruby Sea’ really is the complete American rock album - music of great compositional acumen; emotional, powerful and varied. Don’t let this neglected jewel pass you by.Read full review
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