33. P. Hux--Purgatory Falls
#33: P. Hux--Purgatory Falls (2001)
Top-Notch Tracks: "4258," "I Loved Everything," "Rubble," "Belief," "Red Eyeliner"
Album Depth: "My Sweet Nothing," "Goldmine," "Steer Clear," "Offer You the World"
Weak Link: "Chordothelord"
Stand-out Lyrics: "From 4/2/58 she came. Thank God she's writing down my name."--"4258"
"I even loved the stuff I never loved about you."--"I Loved Everything"
"I'm going down to the salt mine to start digging out of the rubble that's left of my broken heart."--"Rubble"
"It doesn't take much: a book she never read, the last dress she wore, the first words we said. None of these things could ever definer her. All they make me do is wear red eyeliner."--"Red Eyeliner"
"I'm a little bit blown away, can't you see that I've been handed a land mine."--"Goldmine"
"I'm a lucky man, no doubt. When you leave a room the lights go out."--"Belief"
"And it's all there for me to miss."--"4258"
Album Cover: 2 out of 10. The photograph is dark and blurry. I'm sure it has some personal significance to P. Hux, but without that context, I can't give it a very good score.
Comments: Devastatingly beautiful. This album is heartfelt and heartbreaking. It's incredibly sad. It's musically enchanting. It's an incredible album.
Parthenon Huxley's wife, Janet Heaney, died of cancer in January of 1997. This album is all about that. It's very personal, and it almost seems like invading his privacy and inner pain to listen to it. But, dang, it's as beautiful as it is devastating.
Aside from that, I'm not sure why I like listening to this album so much. It certainly isn't a party album. It's not a feel-good album. But, there are times when it just feels right to listen to it.
I've seen Parthenon Huxley in concert in Park City, but it was in his role as co-lead singer of The Orchestra, so he was exclusively singing the songs of the Electric Light Orchestra. Still, he was fantastic, and helped put on a great show.
In the twenty years since this album was released, Hux has put out three more albums. Late last year, I finally thought, "dang, I like this guy, why haven't I checked out those albums?" So I did. While none of the albums is as dynamic as "Purgatory Falls," I can definitely recommend "Kiss the Monster," "Thank You Bethesda," and "This Is the One," as each album contains several finely crafted songs. Parthenon Huxley may have a silly name, but he is a very talented singer and songwriter. I hope we still have more to hear from him.
Up next: Let's get it started.
This is the best album I've ever heard only half of. For some reason, P. Hux didn't make sure that all of the songs off of this album are either on YouTube or Spotify, but he does have it for sale on his website for $13.99, which is exactly $13.99 more than what I would pay to hear half of an album. But I did manage to find the full album Thank You, Bethesda on both YouTube and Spotify. And now "Buddah, Buddah" is one of my favorite songs not on my top 200 list. If I had known about the song when I wrote that list, it probably would have bumped off another song. Who can resist the line "Enemy planes in the comic books go Buddah, Buddah, Buddah" or the supremely ironic line "I live in a different world of private solitude where I always tell the truth, but I'm lying to you." When I discovered the '80s version of the song, I realized that this was a wheelhouse song that never made it onto the radio back in the day, and thus, it never entered the wheelhouse. But it's there now, dammit! The only thing I prefer about the '80s version of the song over the '10s version of the song is that the '10s version includes the line "soy dogs and jet pla-anes" on the last chorus. While I'm a vegetarian, I find it annoying when people push vegetarianism through the mention of soy products. Let's all face the facts. There's only one soy product that tastes good, and that's soy sauce. Even then, it has to be used with caution, because while a little soy sauce on a rice dish can taste delicious, even one extra drop or two can cross that culinary line to make the dish taste very undelicious. And although I've eaten soy dogs and found them somewhat edible, I would not recommend a soy dog to anyone as a palatable substitute for a good old-fashioned hot dog. But there is one food-related recommendation i will make to both vegetarian and meat-eaters alike--the '10s version of "Buddha, Buddha" is much better With Noodles than Without Noodles. For some reason, I like all those guitar and keyboard riffs and sounds that come before (and during) the song a lot. It just makes it a lot more fun to listen to. Which brings me to my final point--Parthenon Huxley is a damn fine guitar player! And his voice is pleasant to hear too. So why am I just discovering him now? And why isn't his music more popular on the interwebs? On YouTube, the song Buddha, Buddha (With Noodles) was published on April 18, 2019, and it only has 171 views as of August 29, 2021. And I'm sure that about 50 of those views are mine, because for the last six weeks it's been my go-to song in the morning as I'm getting ready for work. How could you not go to work in a good mood after listening to all those guitar noodles?! You can't! It's an irresistible good-mood song the likes of which I haven't heard since "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, while I can certainly see why Purgatory Falls deserves a spot on this top-60 album list, I think that Parthenon Huxley's other songs may be the best musical discovery that I've made so far on the list. So, Thank You, Bethesda!
Nardo
So, you wonder why Parthenon Huxley isn't more popular, and you also complain that $13.99 is too much to pay for this fantastic album. I think you've answered your own question, Nardo!
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