Joel Smoker – The Human Condition

CD Review by Chris Spencer

While I have read about Joel Smoker (and his Red Dirt Band) in the past I was not aware that this is his 5th album.

Based in Western Australia, Smoker often writes songs that reflect his experiences of living in rural Australia, particularly the Kimberley region where he grew up.

As well as being a musician, Smoker is a potter, photographer and artist.

While he does not explicitly describe his sound as country, I found most of the tracks on this album were overtly country influenced.

His voice can be a bit off putting, but if you don’t mind an Australian ‘ocker’ accent, and are concerned more about lyrics than the overall sound, you will not find his vocals detracting from your listening enjoyment.

Generally his lyrics are about various themes, rather than love and romance.

For example, the title track discusses what factors make us human, while I’m so Busy and There are not Enough Hours in the Day cover pressures of our daily lives.

In contrast are his tongue in cheek songs Calling on the Tom Tom, Girls in Four Wheel Drives and Luddites of the World Unite.

There are two stories about outback characters – The Queen of the Desert and Mrs Curly Goes Shopping.

She’s Gone is about a broken relationship, Lonesome Cowboy fairly obvious and Hannah and Daniel was written for his neice on her wedding day.

The last track, Plain Old Me has the strongest melody, and I had to check that he wrote this song! Because I have not heard his previous albums, I am unable to say if this album is representative of his work.

However his voice will take a while to get used to, so I would suggest prospective buyers of this album have a listen to some of his songs (that you can hear on his web site) before you part with your dollars.

An interesting album, that should not be dismissed too readily.