Here’s One You Missed: Randy and the Bloody Lovelies – Lift
Here’s a review I wrote for a now-defunct national print magazine back in 2007. The disc is still available if you search hard enough, and it’s worth your time. The band all but disappeared after this release — their second — and that was that.
The album’s opening couplet “Oh if you kill or steal or lie / you’ll go to L.A. when you die” might be a tipoff that Lift is headed for smart-aleck territory. In fact the lyrics sketch out situations and character studies, but the emphasis isn’t so much on irony or humor. If Ben Folds had a Missouri drawl and was influenced more by Billy Joel than Burt Bacharach, he might sound like Randy Wooten.
Missouri native Wooten wears his own influences on his sleeve; there’s no arguing with his eclectic taste. “Blue Horizons” conjures The Band. “Nadine” brings to mind Harry Nillsson and Randy Newman. “New Disguise” evokes peak-period Elton John.
The album features all sorts of ear candy, wrought forth from Mellotron, pedal steel, fiddle and more. “Under Starlight,” the album’s longest and best piece, with beautiful string arrangements straight off John Lennon‘s Imagine LP, feels like an perfect album closer…but it’s not the last track. That honor goes to “Cobblestones & Gin,” a song that channels (again) early 70s Elton, and sounds like a deep album cut.
The more upbeat numbers are sequenced toward the front of the album to draw the listener in, yet there’s not a weak cut on the disc. This is one of the better albums of its type; it’s on a par with the New Radicals‘ 1998 release and Owsley‘s 1999 debut, both remarkable albums that made nary a dent in the marketplace. They deserved better, as does the warm and wonderful Lift.
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About the Author
Bill Kopp
With a background in marketing and advertising, Bill Kopp got his professional start writing for Trouser Press. After a stint as Editor-in-chief for a national music magazine, Bill launched Musoscribe in 2009, and has published new content every business day since then (and every single day since 2018). The 4500-plus interviews, essays, and reviews on Musoscribe reflect Bill's keen interest in American musical forms, most notably rock, jazz, and soul. His work features a special emphasis on reissues and vinyl. Bill's work also appears in many other outlets both online and in print. He regularly hosts lecture/discussions on artists and albums of historical importance (including monthly events Music to Your Ears and Music Movie Mondays), and is a frequent guest on music-focused radio programs and podcasts. In Spring 2023 he taught a history of Rock 'n' Roll at UNC Asheville's College for Seniors. He also researches and authors liner notes for album reissues -- more than 30 to date -- and co-produced a reissue of jazz legend Julian "Cannonball" Adderley's final album. His first book, Reinventing Pink Floyd: From Syd Barrett to The Dark Side of the Moon was published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2018, and in paperback in 2019. His second book, Disturbing the Peace: 415 Records and the Rise of New Wave, was published in 2021 by HoZac Books. His third book, What's the Big Idea: Great Concept Albums will be published in 2024. Read even more about him here.