Album Review

Hamell On Trial – The Happiest Man In The World

• 2nd Jun 2014

This is the ninth album by self styled “anti-folk” hero Ed Hamell from New York, who records under the name of Hamell on Trial. The “one man punk band” sits on the boundary between music and comedy, his performance a mix of spoken word and song. There is anger and biting satire in his lyrics along with some astute political observations. The album is split between solo tracks and those performed with a backing band and various guests, but it is always the lyrics that stand out.

Opening track Artist In America sees Hamell riffing song titles, machine gun style for the verses with a good chorus in between. It’s clever and fun, but perhaps a bit overlong at six minutes. The title track is only a few seconds shorter and features some nice acoustic guitar work backing sardonic lyrics spat out with feeling. It’s self deprecating rather than self pitying and works well.

Hamell has some great stories. Bobby And The Russians tells of a guy who tries to step up and make money on the dark side, but it all goes wrong in spectacular fashion. Richard’s Got A Job takes aim at the economy, starting from the shock news that someone he knows has actually gained employment. Together is a strangely poppy song about of a couple living in an old people’s home. It’s affectionate rather than satirical, showing a gentler side to Hamell’s humour.

Perhaps the funniest tales are the ones of a sexual nature. Whores is hilarious, and many will agree with his comparison of prostitutes with politicians and journalists. Jennifer’s Stripping Again introduces an older woman having trouble making ends meet, so returns to a former profession. And stand out track Mom’s Hot (on which his teenage son sings backing vocals) tells of his desire for a woman in a wheelchair, alternating between tender and just plain wrong on a line to line basis.

Hamell displays all of his songwriting skills on this album, and has a real knack for creating characters and stories that stay just on the right side of offensive. His humour is sharp and he doesn’t miss too many targets, and the musical backing is pretty good too. His live shows must be quite something.

Venue: The Happiest Man In The World
Support Band: New West Records