Garland Jeffreys “The King of In Between”

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#520 in the Series) is Garland Jeffreys, The King of In Between

Ladies and Gentleman, we have another entry in the running for “Album of the Year.” The latest being Garland Jeffreys’ The King of In Between.

I didn’t even know that Garland had any projects in the works. One day, I’m putting together a list on who was going to appearing on the coming weeks late night talk shows here in the states.  One name jumped out at me, was of course Garland Jeffreys.  I’ve always been a fan, going all the way back to 1977 when he was Rolling Stone Magazine’s Best New Artist. Everyone remembers “Wild in the Streets.”

After I saw that Garland was going to be on David Letterman’s Late Night show, I had to find out why.  I figured that there had to be new music in the works.  So I did some digging and found out that he did indeed release The King of In Between just recently.  On that album, I also found out that the single was a song called “Coney Island Winter.” I easily found it on YouTube and gave it a listen.  Would Holy Crap be OK to say here? I was blown away by this song. I’ve been sending emailing it to friends and posting on facebook etc. ever since I heard. This just might be my favorite song of the year.  Garland is a New Yorker and this song just is all about New York.  I think this would be near the top of Lou Reed’s list of “Song I Wish I Had Written” if a list did exist. It would fit on any of his albums just as easily.

“All Around the World” has a sweet reggae feel to it, along with a nice horn section. “’til John Lee Hooker Calls” is of course the one with the bluesy tinge.

Then there’s “Roller Coaster Town,” everything I said about Lou Reed and “Coney Island Winter,” well I could have said the same thing with this song and just include the name Graham Parker instead. I think Graham would have been proud to pen this one.

There are 11 nuggets of great music on this album….BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!!! As they would say on the late night infomercials! If you act now we’ll give you a 12^th track, a bonus hidden track.  It’s a good one too. Garland does a great cover of the old David Essex tune “Rock On.” Rock on indeed Mr. Jeffreys.

This album is produced by Larry Campbell. I must say that the fine guitarist, Campbell has been on quite a roll.  He’s now produced three of my favorite albums on the last few years. I’m also referring to Dirt Farmer and Electric Dirt, both by the great Levon Helm.

I can’t recommend this album enough.  It will be high on my favorite albums of the year listing.

I could not find many tunes to give you a good listen on our usual video playlist. I did find the video for “Coney Island Winter” and also a live version of it from that previously mentioned David Letterman Show. I also posted a video of “Wild In the Streets” for nostalgic reasons. Enjoy.

I also want to appologize for not having my usual Personnel listing for this album. I can’t find anything on it. All I know is that Lou Reed and Duncan Sheik appear on the disc.

— Larry Carta

Track Listing

1. Coney Island Winter
2. I’m Alive
3. Streetwise
4. The Contortionist
5. All Around the World
6. ‘Til John Lee Hooker Calls Me
7. Love Is Not a Cliche
8. Rock and Roll Music
9. The Beautiful Truth
10. Roller Coaster Town
11. In God’s Waiting Room
12. (Bonus Track) Rock On

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