Michael Roe - We All Gonna Face The Rising Sun

For those of you who have followed the stellar career of the 77's and/or the solo releases by front man Michael Roe, have hopefully already ordered your copy of his latest solo effort. In essence this release is like a part two release to the latest 77's releases, Holy Ghost Building.


Holy Ghost Building was a very big departure from the typical 77's sound, and found the band tackling a very old gospel style, very similar to the feeling of the soundtrack from O Brother, Where Are Thou?as far as being a recreation of very old tunes with a deep bluesy southern feel to them. While that 77's album was a most excellent release, I think this new solo release has taken it a huge step forward.

Michael Roe has tackled this project all alone, playing all instruments. Actually, let me just give you the synopsis taken directly from the official website, it says it best:

Michael Roe will admit it -- making his new album scared him half to death.

Start with the fact that We All Gonna Face the Rising Sun, is essentially a one-man show. Roe produced it himself, setting up shop in his California home, playing almost all of the instruments. It’s the first time he’s worked this way, and though it was a daunting proposition, the result is one of the most intimate of his nearly 30-year career.

But it’s the material itself that scared him even more. Rising Sun continues down the old-time spirituals/gospel path that Roe started with Holy Ghost Building (last year’s Seventy Sevens album). But, this time he dug deeper, unearthing countless records, haunting music from a bygone era, containing forgotten traditional songs and hymns. Then he set out to cover not only the songs, but evoke the sound and feeling of those records.

Roe found himself haunted by these old songs, wondering again and again why they had been lost to the ages. Knowing very little about the origins of these recordings, he made up stories for himself, loose ideas of how he imagined the original artists came to learn and set these songs down.

These songs may sound like nothing Michael Roe has ever recorded, but their themes are familiar ones for him. These are songs of redemption, of repentance, of God’s saving grace… and its chilling alternatives. In the end, it’s the songs themselves that scared Roe the most, not just because the world needs their message, but because he does as well.

"These songs make me tremble in my boots," he said. "I cannot sing these and not feel it every time I sing them. I picked songs I need to hear."

In a sense, though this is a different kind of Michael Roe album, its waters flow from the same river he’s always drawn from. He sings of life, of pain, of salvation, and though the songs this time are taken from years gone by, they are relevant and powerful even today. The sun is rising, and we all gonna face it, and these are the songs we will sing when it is our turn.

Roe has accomplished his desire in spades. The emotion is heard and felt, and the fairly simple tunes come to life like they had probably been originally performed. Most songs are a mix of southern gospel/folk styling with simply layered guitars, banjo, I assume a steel guitar, and vocals. We've gotten a little feel of this styling from Roe and the boys of The lost Dogs, so this should appeal to that fan base too.

Track listing includes:
Jonah in the Wilderness
Dry Bones
Woke Up This Morning With My Mind
Come To The Saviour
You Can't Go Halfway
We All Gonna Face The Rising Sun
Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down
Paul And Silas In Jail
I Know My Time Ain't Long
I'm Goin' Home
We Need More Rattlesnakes

The most hauntingly authentic sounding track is the title track, We All Gonna Face the Rising Sun. With the production, the added hiss, and the chorus of singers, you'd swear you were listening to a bootleg recording from 150+ years ago; no instruments present nor needed; this is one of my favorite tracks here.

I Know My Time Ain't Long has a lot of the same feel; no instruments, just Roe and a harmonious chorus of singers, but this time around without the "ancient" production feel as on the title track.

The album closes with We Need More Rattlesnakes, a somewhat humorous story in spoken word with a simple guitar track underneath.

Bravo Mr. Roe, BRAVO to a job well done!



Also worth mentioning is another recent release by Roe simply titled Michael Roe, that was put together mainly to be sold as a special tour CD. There are a couple tracks on this release that are also on the one just reviewed (Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down and Jonah in the Wilderness), but this is mainly Roe revisiting some of his solo, 77's and Lost Dogs tracks in a stripped down man and his guitar format. Songs included are:

I'll Remember You, Love, In My Prayers
Stranger Won't You Change Your Sinful Ways
Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down
Jonah in the Wilderness
You're Gonna Be Sorry
Smokescreen
What Holds On
The Treasure in You
Roesbud
The Boat Ashore
MT
Jimmy
The Lust, the Flesh, the Eyes & the Pride of Life
If it Be Your Will

Imagine the man himself, sitting in your living room with his guitar, and this is what you hear on the release. A very intimate and heart-felt presentation  of many classic tracks. This particular release appears to only be available through the store on the bands official site (www.77s.com) - and I wouldn't be surprised if it is a limited edition release. Don't take the chance, grab one today.