Clear Night For Love

This EP, released after a four-year album silence, shows a real change of direction for Erickson. Gone for the most part are the ghoulish and demonic lyrics of earlier albums, replaced with more traditional verses about love. The arrangements are clean and effective, and sound quality is very good here. Erickson here exhibits styles hitherto unassociated with his earlier releases. "Don't Slander Me" is a growling John Fogerty-style swamper based on a blues progression. Also blues-oriented is "The Haunt," a rattletrap electric number that oddly enough suggests Cream reincarnated as a garage band. "Starry Eyes" is a delight, strongly showing a Buddy Holly influence complete with vocal hiccups. "You Don't Love Me Yet" is an attactively earnest song; except for the Dylanesque harmonica snippets, this number could have come from the folky retro-sounding Flamin' Groovies album Shake Some Action. Only the repetitive title track seems a bit of a misstep. This winsome record is well worth a listen. ~ David Cleary