eMusic Review
With a voice that suggests the forlorn cadence of John Cale and the sashaying gait of David Gray yet stands on its own, David Berkeley is that rare talent who can fill a room with little more than spare acoustic guitar chords and songs that traverse space and time in their search for emotional resonance. (Cities, highways, even historical persons figure highly in his work.) This beautifully recorded live collection from the Chicago club Schubas, where Berkeley served as opening act for the Posies 'Ken Stringfellow that particular summer evening, presents an excellent cross-section of the New Jersey-bred, Brooklyn-to-Atlanta-to-San Francisco-based singer-songwriter's material.
The show's opener, the previously unreleased "Halloween Parade," is a welcome peek into Berkeley's most recent material. However, it's Berkeley's second album, After the Wrecking Ships, one of 2004's highlights, that is strongly represented here with five standout tracks. In particular, "Chicago" sets a fading romance's fruitless conversation to a gorgeous refrain ("You couldn't be more wrong than this") that nearly weeps in resignation. "Fire Sign," written for the CBS network TV show Without a Trace and appended to later editions of Ships, is a haunting, finger-picked beauty that suggests this young songwriter is only getting started.
