The Estradas
Last Summer's Folding Chair
Lynn Point Records LP 005

by William Michael Smith

On The Estradas' Last Summer's Folding Chair, Bob McCluskey extends the brilliant lyricism of his minimalist solo Emergency Lunch Box project, but this time he does it in a very Knoxvillian jangly pop rock format with Estadas' guitarist Michael "Ponch" Goldman and two of Knoxville's top rhythm players, bassist Paxton Sellers (V-Roys, The Faults) and drummer Jason Peters (The Faults). The Estradas was McCluskey's band after the breakup of Taoist Cowboys (and prior to the recording of Emergency Lunch Box). Cowboys' fans will find the album to be a logical musical extension and, since The Estadas broke up without issuing a recording, their fans will find this album to be a must. According to Todd Steed, the engineer on the sessions, "This is the only official Estradas' recording. They never got in the studio when they were together, but they did play a wedding once and some girls took their clothes off!"

There always seems to be a paradox underlying Bob McCluskey's music. With so many downer, dart-through-the-heart lyrics, why do I feel so good when I listen to his songs like "Unforgiving Hands" or "You Got Me" or "Two Fallen Angels"? Somehow no matter how down and poor-pitiful-me McCluskey's lyrics are, once they sink in there is such a slyness and astute cleverness to his observations and rhymes that it's hard to do anything but smile and agree and listen for the next brain-teasing line. Filled with doubt, hurt, and uncertainty, the lyrics reveal a lovable vulnerability in McCluskey's way of expressing feelings that wins a listener over to his side, that makes the listener want to offer protection or solace because anyone who sees things in these terms and sings them in this wavering, whipped-pup voice can't be all bad no matter what mess he's in or what a mess he is. To quote Steed, "Bob has this wonderful ability to paint his own little world which I really like." "Unforgiving Hands" offers a fine example.

With nothing to do except to get over you
I lead a rather uneventful life
And no one to talk to save for myself
And even he told me to shut up last night

I want to hold you in my loving arms
But they're attached to unforgiving hands
That just don't understand
Why you had to have another man

And how can a listener not sympathize with a guy who sees himself in these terms?

Some times I feel like last summer's folding chair
Crumpled and rusted in the backyard somewhere
Please flash me a smile
And give me good dreams in the night of the Nile

With its surf-jangle rock and fuzzy guitar solo, "Two Fallen Angels" shows its direct connection with the Taoist Cowboy sound. It also harkens back to the quirky, skewed, psychically unsure viewpoints of much of McCluskey's Taoist Cowboy work.

Take me out of my hell and into your heaven tonight
I'll take you into my arms and get him out of your mind
For we can be just like two fallen angels
Fall apart and watch our hearts
Dangle off the edge of the sky

Much of McCluskey's work comes from the point of view of the anti-ladies man, of the unsure guy who doubts his social skills, his likeability, who has no doubt as to his lack of suave or cool. Revealing these traits the way he does makes us empathize with McCluskey in ways we could never empathize with, say, Mick Jagger.

Eyes like distant stars
Crashed like meteors
Straight into my soul
Left me in a hole
I got a way out
I'm gonna ask you out
Find out all about you

You got a boyfriend?
God, what a question
Does sherbert have a spoon
Does harvest have a moon
But is it love without a doubt
I want to ask you out

On "If I Was You," McCluskey delves deeply into self-esteem issues and self-destructive traits that create tension in and tear at his relationships. McCluskey knows his traits stand a good chance of wrecking the best thing he's got going, but he's unable to restrain himself, change his dangerous behavior.

You never complain about my constant complaining
You like a little kid inside coloring when it's raining
You don't let me bring you down
You drag me up to your higher ground
But if I was you, I would hate me

At the movies we leave this world through the stars
I feel so close to you sitting next to me in the dark
But then I go and bring us back
With my little critical analysis
If I was you, I would hate me

There is also a Del Shannon side to McCluskey's vocals that is extremely endearing. On the sad and utterly hip "This Town," McCluskey's Del Shannon vocal coupled with Goldman's clean, California picking gives this downer lyric an appealing, uplifting spin.

Out in the night
I walk the streets alone
Too afraid to be by myself at home
I like books but I'm never in the mood to read
Sidewalks with cracks to break your momma's back
Dirty bars with booze to break her heart
I leave late, lonely, drunk and cold
There's a full moon out tonight
It's glowing on the ground
This town makes no sense without you

Recorded at the Superdrag studio in Knoxville, The Estadas' Last Summer's Folding Chair is easy on the ear and stimulating for the brain, filled with jangly guitars, punchy rhythms, a laconic Neil Young deep-thinker's angst, and McCluskey's always inventive lyrical wordplay. While the music is friendly and approachable and achingly honest, the album is probably much too smart lyrically for commercial radio. Fortunately it fits the sophisticated Americana, collegiate and public radio audience like a glove. But, as with Emergency Lunch Box, the most likely place you'll hear Last Summer's Folding Chair is your own CD player. Over and over again.

* The Estradas Last Summer's Folding Chair is available at www.lynnpoint.com




Contact William Michael Smith at: wms-at-rockzilla.net

 
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