All three Stiltskin albums

The Mind’s Eye

It’s hard to believe that 1994 was twenty years ago. I remember in 1994, 1974 seemed like some period of ancient history, yet here we are, the same number of years later looking back on the ‘90s as the period of ancient history it presumably appears to be to millenials.

We’re talking about an era when rock music was a bit hard to come by. Remember, there was no internet back then, so if you were too young to be going to gigs, your only sources of new music were: older siblings/friends who were a bit more clued up on music than you were; radio… or TV.

For almost everyone, the latter is where they will have first been introduced to the music of Stiltskin. Specifically, an advert for Levi jeans to which Stiltskin contributed one of the most memorable guitar riffs of the decade in the form of ‘Inside’.

There’s a few different stories of how Stiltskin formed floating around. One that claims the band was hastily put together by guitarist and songwriter Peter Lawlor after scoring the Levi deal, another asserting that the band was formed by Lawlor, bassist/keyboardist James Finnigan (formerly of Hue & Cry) and drummer Ross McFarlane (formerly of Slide) as far back as 1989 and that many auditions for a lead singer were held before Ray Wilson (formerly of Guaranteed Pure) was selected. Some stories say he auditioned, others say Lawlor and Finnigan offered him a lift to a gig when his car had broken down and offered him the position of vocalist after watching said gig.

Whatever the true story is, what’s important is, the original Stiltskin line-up recorded one hell of a debut album in the form of ‘The Mind’s Eye’.

I’ve always considered ‘The Mind’s Eye’ to be a brilliant and highly underrated record. Before we even get into music, let’s give kudos to the cover art: a green eye, viewed so up close it resembles a blackhole or hyperspace jumpgate. When viewed this close up, the eye no longer stares at you. You stare at the eye!

Musically, ‘The Mind’s Eye’ has plenty of loud/soft dynamics, loud being distorted guitar chords and soft being mostly bass and drums with the occasional intrusion of harmonics. The sort of thing we’d typically associate with grunge, however with the inclusion of Hammond organ, Wurlitzer piano, the Ambrosian Choir on ‘Inside’, celtic elements such as accordion and mandolin on ‘Rest In Peace and a guitar solo that wouldn’t be out of place on a Dire Straits record on ‘Sunshine & Butterflies’ we’re clearly dealing with something a bit more than just grunge. Post-grunge seems a much more adequate category for Stiltskin. Influenced by, but by no means limited to the genre of grunge.

Over the top of all this of course, is the deep, haunting voice of Ray Wilson, delivering Peter Lawlor’s mysterious poetic lyrics.

On that note, let’s dive into the lyrics. Lawlor’s lyrics intrigue me. They bring to mind various images (such as picture frames tied to horses and snowfall turning to rust). Their ambiguity leaves them open to fascinating amounts of interpretation.

It’s worthy of note that the American release of ‘The Mind’s Eye’ included an extra track called ‘Shouting In My Sleep’ (not to be confused with the Ray Wilson solo song of the same name). This song is well worth a listen. In fact, it’s perhaps worth listening to songs from ‘The Mind’s Eye’ in the American order so as to get the experience of being an American fan.

In perusing various reviews and opinions of this album, you are certainly going to encounter those who claim that ‘Inside’ is the only good track. Obviously I am not one of those people. ‘Inside’ is certainly the stand-out. The one that got everyone interested in the band and the one that people will always remember Stiltskin for. It’s even fair enough to argue that it’s the best track, but to say it’s the only track worthy of your ears is to do a huge disservice to the rest of the album which is a well written, well produced and well performed body of songs.

She

One can’t help but wonder what a second album by the original Stiltskin line-up would have sounded like, had they remained together.

Rumour has it that Ray Wilson’s song ‘Another Day’ had found its way into later Stiltskin concerts, so perhaps we’d have been looking at more of a collaborative effort rather than another album penned entirely by Peter Lawlor. The pseudo-grungey nature of Wilson’s post-Stiltskin project Cut_ perhaps gives us some indication of where things might have been headed. It’s even tempting to imagine the album art being a close-up of a different coloured eye!

But as interesting as it is to indulge in such “what ifs”, let’s have a look at what IS.

The 2006 line-up of Stilskin retains only one original member: Ray Wilson. Two, if you count live keyboardist Irvin Duguid. So one could be forgiven for asking what differentiates this project from a Ray Wilson solo album.

Opening track ‘Fly High’ gives us a good overview of what to expect here. Louder guitars than we’d typically expect from a Wilson album, though the riffs here owe more to the influence of metal than the grunge of ‘The Mind’s Eye’. The album is not without its ballads however, ‘Lemon Yellow Sun’ being a good example.

Wilson is a much more straight-up lyricist than Peter Lawlor. Don’t expect to find references to picture frames tied to horses here. Wilson likes to be quite direct with his message, a theme no clearer than on the track ‘Fame’ which pulls no punches in accurately describing TV talent shows.

As well as the big drop-D guitar riffs we have some slide guitar, some nice piano and keyboard work, some occasional hints of distorted bass and drums provided by Wilson’s former Genesis band-mate Nir Z. String arrangements are making their way to becoming standard by this stage of the discography and we even have a bit of guest rapping from Adonis. While rapping should offend someone such as myself, it reminds me enough of ‘Rage Against The Machine’ to be acceptable.

The title track of the album is a very groove-based affair. While it is very different to a track like ‘Inside’, it is perhaps similar in that it wouldn’t sound out of place as the theme tune to an advert.

A particular standout track for me is ‘Wake Up Your Mind’, partly because it was one of the first tracks from ‘She’ that I heard when discovering the new project on MySpace. I almost wish it was the first track on the album as it seems to be an almost perfect bridge between the Stiltskin of old and the new Stiltskin, showcasing Wilson’s moody vocal tone, suitably introspective lyrics and a loud/soft approach to dynamics coming from the band.

Overall, we’re looking at something that is appropriately similar to the Stiltskin of old so as not to simply be a Ray Wilson solo album with the name Stiltskin slapped on it, but different enough to not simply be written off as an attempt to re-hash ‘The Mind’s Eye’.

Unfulfillment

So now the band is called “Ray Wilson & Stiltskin”. At first I assumed this was for the same reason Whitesnake are now called “David Coverdale & Whitesnake” and The Police are now called “Sting & The Police”, but having listened to the album, we do appear to get a fairly even mixture of the sort of loud guitar driven tracks of a Stiltskin record and the more acoustic guitar and piano driven material of a Ray Wilson solo album. There’s an undeniable (Dark Side Of The Moon era) Pink Floyd vibe to this record overall, which is no bad thing.

Subscribers to Ray Wilson on Youtube will be aware that ‘American Beauty’ and ‘First Day Of Change’ are the two tracks from this album that have music videos. The former being an upbeat rock song and the latter being more of a sombre ballad, perhaps more typical of Ray as a solo artist. Both these tracks serve as appropriate samplers to the heavy and the gentle dimensions of the album. ‘American Beauty’ opening with what sounds like a programmed drumbeat and a piano hook before kicking in with full band. The instrumental section also features a really neat slide guitar solo. ‘First Day Of Change’ offers us a more waltzy time signature opening with some pleasant acoustic guitar arpeggios. The harmonising of the male and female vocals gives this track a nice texture.

String arrangements are now a permanent fixture in the line-up, as are a hell of a lot of guitarists. Being a minimalist, I’m a bit sceptical of such crowded line-ups, but for whatever reason, it seems to work really well.

A standout track for me is ‘Guns Of God’, a song featuring samples of Israeli conscientious objectors mixed in with some heavy guitar verses and more piano driven choruses.

I feel I must give props to more impressive photography that adorns the album inlay, creating some nice visuals to associate with the songs.

Much like with ‘She’, ‘Unfulfillment’ is not an attempt to re-hash ‘The Mind’s Eye’. Nor is it an attempt to re-hash ‘She’ for that matter. It’s a definite step forward. It’s unclear if there will be another Stiltskin record, but certainly Ray Wilson shows no signs of stopping writing, recording and touring any time soon.