(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)
John Wesley Harding Stace (who shortened his stage name by dropping his surname) debuted as a cross between Elvis Costello and Billy Bragg, as mercurial as the first and as polemical as the second. In general, he was a genuine product of the pub-songwriter traditiontalents perhaps modest but authentic.
After debuting with the live-recorded acoustic folk of It Happened One Night (Demon, 1988), rich in satirical songs, and the EP God Made Me Do It (Sire), featuring Here Comes The Groom and a nine-minute duet with Vivian Stanshall (Bonzo Dog Band), Stace released what was effectively his first true album, Here Comes The Groom (Sire, 1990), which earned him the reputation of being the poor mans Costello with songs like The Devil In Me, Scared of Guns, You're No Good, and When The Sun Comes Out.
The following album, The Name Above The Title (Sire, 1991), attempted to propose more musical solutions, freely inspired by Phil Spector, Tamla Motown, and bubblegum pop, complete with Hammond organ and a horn sectionbut for the most part, the production effort worked against him (I Can Tell).
Why We Fight (Sire, 1992) did little to improve things, although Kill The Messenger boasts a chorus above his usual standard. The greatest limitation of witty songs like Where The Bodies Are and Kill The Messenger is his model, Elvis Costello, whose weaknesses and uncertainties he replicates: the ambition, the literariness, the self-sufficiency. He only frees himself from this in Hitler's Tears, an ambitious yet unresolved composition.
Due to a legal dispute and the move to San Francisco, nearly four years passed before the release of New Deal (Forward, 1996), a work that from the manifesto-like To Whom It May Concern presents itself as the most philosophical and least sarcastic of his career, but ultimately proves also the least successful. The realistic vignettes of The Triumph Of Trash and In Paradise recall the Kinks, but without Davies melodic talent. Kiss Me Miss Liberty and Cupid And Psycho are shy and suave folk-rock from the 1960s.
(Original English text by Piero Scaruffi)
Awake (Zero Hour, 1998 - Appleseed, 2001) and
The Confessions of St Ace (Mammoth, 2000)
veered towards cheerful pop,
albeit without surrendering his knack for
infectious melodies and erudite tales (Window Seat).
On top of those, songs like
Your Ghost (Moog, triangle) and Burn (cigarette lighters)
also feature eccentric arrangements.
Confessions is even poppier and looser
(the opening one-two punch of
Humble Bee and She's A Piece Of Work, plus
You in Spite of Yourself)
and tunes like
Bad Dream Baby, I'm Wrong About Everything and
Goth Girl push it to the brink of Brit-pop.
However, the real gem could be Too Much Into Nothing, a touching
confession in the folksinger vein, whereas Our Lady Of The Highways
is an affectionate tribute to redneck music.
The Man With No Shadow (Mammoth, 2002) boasts a formidable singalong,
Sluts, and a set of pop ballads
(Negative Love, Nothing At All, It Stays)
that would make Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson jealous.
The pop ballads prevail on Adam's Apple (DRT, 2004), but the likes of
Pull and Negative Love don't do much to make this album more
listenable that the Beatles' Let It Be. The only captivating experiment
is Sussex Ghost Story, a collaboration with avantgarde composer
Gavin Bryars.
His first novel, "Misfortune", was also published in 2004.
After publishing two novels, Wesley Stace returned to his musical persona
John Wesley Harding for
Who Was Changed And Who Was Dead (2009), backed by the
Minus 5, but it was another weak work.
Backed by the Decemberists
Decemberists and Peter Buck of
R.E.M., Harding has a nice conversation with
the listener in The Sound of His Own Voice (2011), and is occasionally
witty and entertaining, but not too musical.
His erudition and wit redeem
the folk-rock lullaby Uncle Dad,
the dejected ballad I Should Have Stopped,
the satirical novelty There's a Starbucks Where the Starbucks Used To Be,
and the grand finale of The World in Song.
Folk-rock music for the social-network generation.
Wesley Stace (2013) was even more somber meditation, and even more
introverted, mostly about his own aging.
