Name: Left and Leaving
Brand: Epitaph (USA)
SKU: 21618179
Availability: OutOfStock

Performer Notes

The Weakerthans: John K. Samson (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, 12-string guitar, Wurlitzer piano); Stephen Carroll (vocals, guitar, lap steel guitar, piano, Fender Rhodes piano); John P. Sutton (vocals, piano, bass, synthesizer); Jason Tait (Fender Rhodes piano, glockenspeil, drums, percussion, saw).
Recorded at Private Ear Studios, Winnipeg, Canada in February 2000.
Personnel: John K. Samson (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, 12-string guitar, Wurlitzer organ); Stephen Carroll (vocals, guitar, lap steel guitar, piano, Fender Rhodes piano); John P. Sutton (vocals, piano, synthesizer); Jason Tait (Fender Rhodes piano, glockenspiel, drums, percussion, musical saw).
The personal remains the political whichever way you want to cut it. Winnipeg's Weakerthans embody this ethic better than most on their second and long-awaited follow-up to their 1998 debut, Fallow. Splitting from Winnipeg's more punk Propagandhi, John Samson is following a more melodic and introspective path while retaining much of the politics. Constructed of vignettes of precise moments in time and place which manage nonetheless to speak volumes, Left and Leaving deftly mixes social commentary with folk and punk rock. This is an intelligent, literate album, and Samson a wordsmith the likes of Elvis Costello or Ron Sexsmith. There is the nice turn of phrase with the line "I am your pamphleteer" referring as much to an absent loved one as to the listener, and on "Aside," Samson sings that he relies "a bit too heavily on alcohol and irony." While "Exiles Among You" describes the disposed among us whom we step over and dare not make eye contact with, the album is never heavy-handed, but simply illustrative of another way of life, the path not chosen or hopefully avoided, especially on tunes like "This Is a Fire Door." Left and Leaving is as well-played an album as it is written. Produced by Ian Blurton, musically Left and Leaving is equal parts agit folk and punk-pop. There are dashes of the Rheostatics, a touch of Bob Mould, and a tasty Neil Young guitar solo on "Elegy for Elsabet." Coming out of the blue collar city of Winnipeg, the images ring true, reminding us that in this fevered era of technology, the people who actually produce the stuff consumed remain much as they always have, rarely seen and rarer still heard. ~ Chris Grimshaw

Professional Reviews

CMJ (8/14/00, p.3) - "...Post-hardcore indelible songs. Samson's rare talent for nailing an emotion with a deft turn of phrase is what lingers long after the last chord fades....a remarkable talent."

Album: Left and Leaving
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Everything Must Go!
2)	Aside
3)	Watermark
4)	Pamphleteer
5)	This Is A Fire Door Never Leave Open
6)	Without Mythologies
7)	Left and Leaving
8)	Elegy For Elsabet
9)	History To the Defeated
10)	Exiles Among You
11)	My Favourite Chords
12)	Slips and Tangle

Album: Left and Leaving
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Everything Must Go!
2)	Aside
3)	Watermark
4)	Pamphleteer
5)	This Is A Fire Door Never Leave Open
6)	Without Mythologies
7)	Left and Leaving
8)	Elegy For Elsabet
9)	History To the Defeated
10)	Exiles Among You
11)	My Favourite Chords
12)	Slips and Tangle