The new GLIM SPANKY album, Walking On Fire, represents yet another great set of songs from Singer/Songwriter/Guitarist Remi Matsuo and guitarist Hiroki Kamemoto. Remi is without question one of the best songwriters of the 21^st Century. There may be no one in the world who writes better songs in the mainstream classic rock genre. And Hiroki has the miraculous gift of making every song on which he plays sound even better by his inventive licks and solos.

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Walking On Fire is the fifth full album, in addition to numerous Eps, singles and live DVDs, in the band’s six year career. It is a return to form after the uneven 2018 album LOOKING FOR THE MAGIC. Most of that album’s songs, including the four best ones – 「愚か者たち」 (“Fools”), “All Of Us,” “To The Music,” and “In The Air” – had been previously released on singles.

The two soul music crunchers, “To The Music” and “In The Air,” are truly great songs. Niles Rogers would be proud of the grooves that Remi and Hiroki laid down. “All Of Us” and 「愚か者たち」 (“Fools”) are two of the very best songs of the last ten years. As stated above, no one writes better rock songs than Remi. These songs are proof.

Nevertheless, there were too many songs in the neo-psychedelic genre that had captured Remi’s imagination. “Flowers,” “Love Is There,” and “Looking For The Magic” were good songs, but she had already mined that lode to exhaustion on the 2017 album BIZARRE CARNIVAL. It is understandable that Remi, an unapologetic fan of the Fab Four, wanted to pay tribute to the Beatles’ psychedelic experiments. But the era of “Strawberry Fields” was, after all, a pretty brief detour in the Beatles’ career. Like the White Stripes-influenced “TV Show,” the songs were pastiches, imitations of the originals.

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On Walking On Fire, Remi and Hiroki return to their rock roots. They add a healthy helping of wonderfully evocative ballads. And unlike LOOKING FOR THE MAGIC, Walking On Fire sounds like a cohesive album. It begins with the short “Intro: Walkin On Fire,” a funky hard rock instrumental. The first song, 「東京は燃えてる」 (“Tokyo Is On Fire”) is a rocking, but melodic, upbeat jam. Remi sings of the city as a metaphor for personal chaos. Tokyo is on fire, just like the narrator’s heart. Despair and hope are swirling and smoking. She’s followed many dreams that have turned into ashes. The words are poetic, but the emotions are raw.

In fact, this latest batch of songs is full of emotions of longing and wistfulness. Remi often sings of the challenges of a young person facing the world. In the absolutely gorgeous “By Myself Again,” Remi sings “I’m an adult now, and I’ll live alone from today.” She is writing deeply felt lyrics, as she has always done. Her world seems to be equal parts hope and disappointment.

The ballads, including “AM06:30,“ 「こんな夜更けは」 (“Such A Late Night”) and 「ストーリーの先に」 (“At The End Of The Story”), demonstrate Remi’s gift for writing evocative lyrics to match the melodies. Remi often writes of the joyous moments in life, as in 「若葉の時」 (“The Time Of The Young Leaves”) where she sings, “The rice on the hill is shaking.” But she doesn’t avoid exposing the painful experiences of youth and young adulthood. 「ストーリーの先に」.  In 「ストーリーの先に」(“At The End Of The Story”), the narrator is walking down a narrow road with only the shadows as company. And she’s not fooled by the ghost that hits her on the shoulder. The moon is watching over her.

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Remi is clearly a very poetic writer of rock lyrics. From a musical standpoint, she and Hiroki continue to write memorable melodies. Walking On Fire is not as hard-rocking as earlier releases. There are no fast-paced punk rock songs like the classics 「ワイルド・サイドを行け」 or「褒めろよ 」. Nevertheless, the band covers a wide range of genres, from gentle ballads to crunchy mid-tempo rock songs. There is even a soul-infused jam (the single “Singing Now”). “By Myself Again” is a country flavored song that even includes the fiddle as a primary instrument. But its melody is far more inventive than anything that currently comes out of Nashville.

「道化は吠える」 (“The Clown Barks”) is up-tempo hard rock. “Up To Me” uses vaguely exotic rhythms and has an infectious “Oh-oh-oh-oh; oh-oh-oh; oh-oh-oh-oh-oh” chorus. This song, which represents something entirely new in the GLIM SPANKY catalog, may be the one that sticks with the listener the longest.

The closing track, “Circle Of Time,” is the closest thing to a neo-psychedelic song on the album. But it has more of a pure rock feel than the songs that appeared on BIZARRE CARNIVAL or LOOKING FOR THE MAGIC.

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The twelve tracks on the album cover a lot of ground musically. As always, Remi’s classic rock-and-roll voice is full of emotion and nuance. Hiroki, who is a very knowledgeable fan of world soccer, is even more deeply knowledgeable of classic blues-rock guitar licks. His solos often soar like an eagle, and they often cry like a wounded lover. On Walking On Fire, he makes effective use of the wah-wah pedal.

Walking On Fire may not reach the heights of early GLIM SPANKY albums such as Sunrise Journey or Next One. This is for the simple reason that it has a more mellow vibe and therefore fewer pure highs. Nevertheless, Walking On Fire reaffirms the GLIM SPANKY’s mastery of the classic rock idiom, one that is steeped in the influence of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. It is always a thrill to hear new music from GLIM SPANKY. Walking On Fire is a worthy addition to the collected works of a truly great rock band.

 

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