Description
Glenn Cardier – Rattle the Cage
CD review by Tony Smith
TN622-64 – $20
This 2002 Fantastique productions album of 14 tracks provides some 50 minutes of enjoyable listening from one of Australia’s best story tellers.
Glenn Cardier was born in the mid 1940s and so experienced the folk revival of the 1960s, but he has worked across genres and developed his own style.
He is perhaps most admired by aficionados of the blues.
Quite a few of these tracks have appeared in other albums including his ‘Live at Lizotte’s with the Sideshow’, which came out in DVD and CD.
Fans will immediately recognise ‘Ringmaster Blues’ (in the greatest show on earth), ‘Rust in the Tailfin’ (a metaphor for problems that develop in life), ‘Shing-A-Ling’, the comical ‘Close Encounter (With A UFO)’ and the title track ‘Rattle the Cage’ (for when you are staring through the bars) to name but a few.
Cardier uses the image of the prison literally and analogically.
‘Not much to do down here in the zoo/ the walls are grey and the food is too’.
People can be confined and restricted by walls of steel or brick, but they can also be restrained by pressures and forces brought to bear by others.
Ultimately, we can build psychological cells for ourselves because of our fears and hesitations.
The Ringmaster has the blues because the circus is falling apart.
‘Rust in the tailfin, trust in the lord/ rain in the headlights lost in the storm’.
‘Tomorrow’s Another Day’ expresses optimism that things can get better.
It could be interpreted as a warning about climate catastrophe, or relationship problems.
‘The Best of It’ is a ballad style and among the smoothest tracks here.
Things aren’t always perfect.
Keep your hopes up.
‘Love Song’ is slow and quiet and shows the depth of Cardier’s voice.
He references some philosophers and scientists to describe his feelings and the attractions of his lover.
‘She Flew Away’ is another gentle track.
It has the feeling of a boat rocking.
The cello makes it close to a lullaby.
‘She flew away up to the moon/ she just up and left one afternoon’.
‘Wouldn’t Wanna Change A Thing’ opens with some fine guitar picking.
It tells of an enduring love for a childhood sweetheart.
This one is right out of that sixties playbook.
The style makes it my favourite track.
‘Hawaiian Sands’ is suggestive of an island paradise.
‘Rare Bird’ is a rock and roll song.
The rare bird sings but doesn’t ever come down.
‘Pas De Deux’ has continental flare, something close to a slow flamenco.
It is an all too brief instrumental.
It sets the scene nicely for ‘Sideshow Alley’, which picks up a cabaret atmosphere and has shades of tango and klezmer.
Cardier, with his guitar and slide, is joined by Ilse De Ziah on cello and Bill Scott on accordian.
Mastering was by William Bowden and photography by Brett Boardman.
The black and white colouring of the album is suggestive of certainty on one hand, but tolerance on the other.
Cardier uses a staccato style that is almost a shorthand, but when he chooses his words so perfectly, his meaning is clear.
Very few of Cardier’s lines contain more than half a dozen words.
Some have as few as two.
His style has been distinctive and successful, but emulators should beware: only Glenn Cardier could do it this way.
Cardier’s critically-acclaimed comeback CD includes the stark beauty of “She Flew Away”, the rockabilly rave-up “Shingaling”, and the Berlin cabaret of “Sideshow Alley”.
About the artist: The reclusive singer-songwriter Glenn Cardier performs his songs and stories of dark humor. In the 70’s, he produced three albums of highly original folk/rock songs. He played the first two Sunbury festivals and worked with the likes of Frank Zappa, Spike Milligan, and Fairport Convention. Post 2000, Glenn has re-emerged as a songwriter/performer of real distinction.
