Review Summary: It's not quite Hole's most daring or most artistic album, but it is definitely his most fun, filled with unstoppable grooves and incredible blues staples in the rhythm section, alongside the guitarist's most earnest performances.
General information on Dave Hole's personal life and career is a bit scant outside of the basics, as the man has relied mostly on word of mouth, especially that of the Perth music scene, to get around. But a few details slip through the cracks, and Ticket To Chicago being his first album with actual liner notes gives us some background on his goals in entering the musical landscape. Steel On Steel, his last effort, featured his signature song, Take Me To Chicago, but the liner notes for Ticket go further and explain that was a statement of intent. From what my mother told me just before listening to this, my first exposure to Hole years ago, he was in fact attempting to raise money to make the trip to the Windy City.
When the time came to record his fifth studio effort, he got his wish, traveled to Chicago and recorded his first album outside a Perth studio (though several were mixed in other institutions). He also got to play with several revered blues session musicians, including keyboardist Tony Z. There is every indication, including the liner note's expressive claim that this is his most blues-fueled outing, that this is the definitive album in Hole's eyes, the one he always wanted to make. Though I disagree in some sense, this is definitely the one he had the most fun making, and the one where that sense of fun most comes through.
First of all, the move to a city strongly associated with his musical calling, and the ability to mix up his backing band make-up, means that although the man is playing the most songs built on typical blues frameworks in a while, the production and overall sound are very different. Previous albums were either very roomy with a lot of verb or sounded so gnarly they were made to blare out of a bar's speakers. Ticket To Chicago is a lot cleaner, more glittery, more pristine. The drums and guitars have a nice crunch to them, the bass pops and slaps, the piano cuts through the mix, the horn sections shine. This is the one where money was spent, and it just sounds great.
In one sense, Hole misused this opportunity by not writing more songful tunes for this record where they had the potential to sound their absolute best, but that was clearly not his goal. Instead, he and the band get in there and play some absolute jams. If you can accept that you'll be hearing a lot of the same twelve bars, especially in the record's first half, you'll find some very pleasant, energetic and exciting listens. The opener Out Of Here, despite being one of the weaker songs, is still a very good metric for the album's sound, a no-frills electric blues experience where the band sounds like they're having an absolute blast. It's straightforward but it gets the job done.
Other songs, while following some blues templates, manage to divvy up the pace of the record through just enough moments of good songwriting. A general trick to expect is a tense motif and escalating scale. You're Too Young features some stop-start moments in the full band suite just as Hole is singing "stop!", always a novel trick to see. The drum beat of Phone Line builds and builds until it hits full momentum and carries the song, and the unfolding groove of You've Got The Blues is quite simply the best rhythm section a Dave Hole song ever featured, with a bobbing bass line and interweaving brass and guitar solos. Outlaw features an ever-building chorus with drums that continuously bubble until they gloriously pop, and the record fittingly ends with an explosive rendition of Bullfrog Blues, where Hole utilises an almost Pixies-like approach to tension and release. Despite its simplicity, it remains enrapturing because Hole and co. simply play their asses off on every song.
Hole's guitar voice is also shaping up to where it feels better than ever; improvisational and from the heart but utilising repeated passages properly as motifs, varied up each time to remain dynamic but holding on to the really impressive stuff for the album's best moments. Wheeler Dealer's closing solo matches so well with the bobbing groove and yet feels like it could go off the rails at any time. It's electrifying stuff. Why Can't You Be True is also just as much fun to listen to as I'm sure it was for Hole to lay down, whose high notes are pure ear candy.
Unfortunately, five albums into his recording career and some fifty years into his life, his singing voice is starting to falter. Not that this ever ruined Hole's chances for delivering the goods, as Chicago blues often demands a rough, haggard voice even at its most frantic moments, so down-trodden and rugged is much of the genre's lyrical content. But you can still hear a distinction from prior works; as his career goes on, it becomes increasingly unlikely he'll ever try the falsetto moments of Short Fuse Blues or Working Overtime again, or even the really lower register stuff he did on Steel On Steel. And unfortunately, there are a few moments on Ticket To Chicago where his vocal delivery sounds a bit too stuffy, like his throat is clogged with phlegm or something. Beyond Jupiter and Bermuda Triangle suffer the most.
On the other hand, this rugged voice lends an edge of credence to some of the album's slower cuts. My Bird Won't Sing, what could have been a waste of time, becomes an engaging metaphor because Hole's delivery gives an air of surprise to the ordeal, which could only have been delivered from years of a status quo expectation. A similar thing happens in Empty Train, where his world feels so thrown upside down that his isolation becomes a shock, and it's sold brilliantly by Hole's one moment of melodic range on the record. Yet other songs feature great delivery on all fronts that save otherwise trite lyrical conceits. I get the impression with some of these songs Hole was trying to clear a checklist of "blues-like" things to write about, which is why there are as many songs where he is happy to break up with someone else for cheating on him as there are songs where he is sad someone else is leaving him. It pales in comparison to Steel On Steel which had just enough of a poetic edge to be believable.
Such as it is for basically the whole album's mood; it's just not as songful as its predecessor. But it is slightly more engaging over a longer period of time. Special mention must go out to Johnny B. Gayden, the session's bassist, who generally holds things down incredibly well but occasionally rips out some great riffs of his own to carry the song. Slap bass is underutilised in blues in general, never mind Hole's recording output, but his bass lines give some extra dance and funk flavour to proceedings, which makes these energetic compositions pop out even more. But all these blues frameworks from these high class musicians really force Hole to give it his all, which is why this album features possibly his largest assortment of great solos and riffs.
When you don't have as many tricks up your sleeve and don't want to over-exert yourself on the songwriting process, it helps if you still sound great and deliver the absolute best you can on the performance front. This thesis was likely the goal Hole had in mind while making Ticket To Chicago. He went right to the geographical heart of the genre, grabbed the best players he could and just went for it. The result is as electrifying now as it was twenty years ago. It may not feature his best songs, but as an album, it was clearly his most fun to make and, happily, the most fun to listen to.
