American Gothic is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter David Ackles. It was released on July 4, 1972, by record label Elektra. American Gothic was recorded at IBC Sound Recording Studios in London, England. It was produced by Bernie Taupin and conducted by Robert Kirby. In its retrospective review, AllMusic wrote "American Gothic remains one of those great albums that never found its audience. It waits to be rediscovered." American Gothic was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Mojo called it "one of the most beautiful but rarely heard albums of his era".
This reminds me of the shit kids in my high school theatre would listen to. I am not a fan. I guess if something is an “undiscovered classic” that has “yet to find its audience” that might just mean it sucks and people don’t like it 😂
"Beefy lips". "Beefy lips" is all they could say to me. It had been sixteen hours waiting, without another word. The worry, the fear, the unknown. I had so many questions, but not one of the doctors who passed me uttered a single sentence other than "beefy lips". My mind was racing, were they dead? A rugged face snapped back from behind a pristine surgical mask and peered over at me. I looked up, hopeful, fearful. The doctor beckoned me over and pulled back the curtain. There lay my beautiful virgin bride, legs wide open. A forest of tangled pubic hair draped over the thickest, chewiest, shiniest set of matching vaginal lips I'd ever laid me eyes on. I was in heaven.
Grandiose, overblown and somewhat ludicrous, I absolutely loved it. What a find!
I started listening to this before, and was put off a little. I wasn't sure what the singer was aiming for, but it was obvious he was not going for super-positive. I think his voice reminded me more of Neil Diamond initially, but more... serious? (Not that Neil isn't serious, but it's what the singer was going for.) I switched to something else, and tried again later. The second time I started the album, I enjoyed it more. The songs began to be more... picturesque, I thought of him singing like Leonard Cohen, and I started to appreciate it more. I think if I went through it the first time I would have given it a more negative review, but I kinda got the vibe he was going for. It doesn't mean that I absolutely LOVED it. But still, I appreciated it more. So probably a 2.6, rounding to a 3.
I made the mistake of reading other reviews while listening, and now "over the top Neil Diamond" is just a lingering thought that I can't get out of my head. The vocal affectations and even some of the type of lyrics do very much read as Neil Diamond, but the music combined with the delivery have some kind of almost manic additional quality. Either way, I've never heard anyone else deliver things quite like Neil Diamond, but this is probably the closest I've heard. What I will say is that David Ackles definitely didn't shy away from experimenting and taking risks here. The music is dramatic and could definitely pass as a quirky 70s stage musical; I haven't ever heard anything quite like this outside of musical theater spaces. And while I like musical theater and discovering rare obscurities, and while some of the songs struck me as interesting and even a couple as strangely beautiful, this overall ended up just being kind of not my thing.
1/2
This was... really bad. I could leave it at that but I think this album deserves a bit of explanation. The vocals are nothing spectacular, but that's not necessarily a deal breaker. After all, Bob Dylan doesn't have a voice to write home about. And speaking of Bob Dylan, the contents of the lyrics are similar to Dylan's work. There are stories being told, but they're all laid out so explicitly that there's nothing interesting about them. You lose something when you're just retelling a story from beginning to end with no room for inference. Then there's the instrumentals, which at times aren't noticeable, and at other times sound discordant. Ultimately, not as interesting as Ackles probably wanted this album to be. Bored me into not finishing.
A few songs I was okay with but overall just found this very irritating and I kind of hated it.
A bit like a Billy Joel composed Broadway musical. If that sounds appealing to you….god help ya.
10/10 absolutely incredible and so underrated god I wish more people would hear this
BL: never heard of. But read that Costello cites him as a major influence so I am looking forward to it. AL: wow. I thought this was brilliant. Cutting and beautiful song writing, “love’s enough”, “another Friday night”, “family band”, and “Montana song” all have amazing lyrics and the instrumentation is pretty solid too. His gentle yet rough voice really adds and emotional tone to it. Highly recommend FT: “love’s enough”, “Montana song”, “another Friday night”, “family band”, 5/5
American Gothic is sneaky-complete and just and indulgent as the title and first notes indicate. Shades of Scott Walker, clearly and pleasingly, and an immediate songwriter's songwriter feel are highlights. The "American" part is as well-represented, and yet the album ends up feeling close to linear. Explicit references to religion do not a religious experience make, but here they help.
Never heard of him, but what a strong album. Baroque, theatrical. A little bit of Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and Billy Joel all rolled into one. Spots of the Beach Boys at their "Pet Sounds"-iest too. Has a weak moment or two, but I don't think it's enough to detract from the score. Favorite tracks: "Love's Enough", "Another Friday Night", "Family Band"
surprised by how interesting this album is. i was prepared to dislike it for its showtune aesthetic but the lyrics are great and the music sets the scene so perfectly. definitely heard some proto-springsteen and early elton john (bernie taupin produced). will definitely listen to the whole album again.
Sometimes you get one of those albums you've never heard of, but that you love instantly. Ackles musical theatre song style, coupled with the piano rock and great lyrics (apparently an English major (it shows)), hit a perfect spot for me. I loved it in all its earnest story telling!
david ackles' american gothic was country with jazz interspersed. some songs even sounded rather orchestral! other times, it was minimal, like with only a piano joining his voice. i enjoyed the mix. ackles enjoyed telling stories through his lyrics--he always had something to sing. i was left with such a feeling of homesickness. ackles keyed into so many emotions without being over the top. his lyrics were the key part of that, too. the whole album had a serene, wistful sense, and it hit a head when it came to "waiting for the moving van" toward the end of the album. "oh, california!" had a jaunty country attitude as ackles described an exciting return journey. "another friday night" puts you firmly by a campfire when camping with that opening harmonica. "love's enough," which absolutely took my breath away, was a softly beautiful song and described the beginnings of love. hymn-like "family band" was the oddball of this album, but with the memories of his family celebrating their faith together. i found myself reminded of leonard cohen, but not the music from his early career. cohen wasn't very country but was lyric heavy.
kinda like randy newman
This dramatic and literary type of songwriting and singing sounds like a cross between Scott Walker and Gordon Lightfoot — while I don't remember much of it, definitely enjoyed it, so I'm definitely going to need to revisit this album and artist.
I can see how this is an understated Folk classic. Not quite getting to what I want, but quite enjoyable.
There is something delightfully vaudeville about this. Even when it isn't fantastic, it's still pretty interesting. It's almost like showtunes for a musical that was never made.
Quite a fun album, the songs have charm - "Oh California" is a banger, and so is the title track and "Blues for Billy Whitecloud" - other tracks are middling, but still a good listen, and a couple, like closer "Montana song" overstay their welcome. It's not a perfect record, but it's a good one.
Did not know anything about this one. I’ll give this another listen sometime.
Het was een uitdagende dag om dit te luisteren maar hoorde wel dat dit heel bijzonder is.
I had never heard about David Ackles before. Based on the Wikipedia page and the first songs of this album, I was ready to consider this album just another folk-like attempt to be a great album and with a final importance only for a few Americans proud of anything produced in the USA between 1970 and 1990 as the "upper" quality among all songs (which is entirely fake). For me, it was worth a maximum of 2 stars. However, some other songs caught my attention when they sounded more like Sinatra-style, jazzy, and big-band songs I usually enjoy more. I also liked the last songs' beautiful instrumental/orchestral work, so my initial assumptions were wrong. Indeed, it can be an attempt to sound important. Still, the variety of styles and interesting instrumental work proved that if it's impossible to achieve it, the dedicated effort is worth it. Maybe it's not an essential album for everyone, but not being perfect and sounding like an honest musical attempt made this (before completely unknown) album important for me.
Hmmmm, he's very Scott Walker, eh? Apparently more influential that listened to directly, so I guess I'm glad this project thrust him into my path! Fave track - "Ballad of the Ship of State", perhaps, or "Midnight Carousel"
Like Nick Cave does a musical? I quite enjoyed the drama of it and the storytelling, although, as ever, didn't listen enough to the words but I know he swapped the milk for booze.
He has a very emotive voice, Midnight Carousel sounds like it could've come from a Sondheim musical. I particularly love his sense of humour!
Pretty good, although started to grate on me after additional listens. Might go back to it. Definitely quirky.
Couldn't quite place what his sound reminded me of on the title / opening track. But the first few piano bars of the second track Love's Enough made me think Neil Diamond, and his vocals on that track solidified that belief for me. Once I got there, my ears pricked up. I really loved that second track; ditto Another Friday Night and Waiting for the Moving Van. One Night Stand wasn't bad; maybe a bit too much cheese or Sinatra ripoff. Keep the composition but change the lyrics. Family Band was a good start, a bit meh by the end. Ballad of the Ship of State and Midnight Carousel was a bit too much pomp. Oh California was the right amount of pomp. It feels like a 3.5 but I don't know if there's enough to round up.
This album is really not my type of music, and I found it quite dull. I could see why people would like this. There are lots of other albums that it sounds like, but it also predates a lot of those albums, so it deserves credit for that. To me, this is basically what Leonard Cohen would sound like if he wasn't as good a poet and had less interesting backing music 3/5 I think he deserves some credit for taking some chances and experimenting in these songs, but at the same time I was bored the entire time I was listening to this album
Is it me or does this sound like a Scott Walker album? It’s nice, but on first listen I rolled my eyes a bit. After listening more, I started to like it more.
Weirdo early 70s fancy ass folk pop
The songs on "American Gothic" are a bit like little theater plays. They are richly orchestrated by Elton John's songwriter partner Bernie Taupin, and sometimes contain cabaretesque melodies, but are nevertheless based on the narrative folk style such as that of Woody Guthrie. At times his voice resembles that of Neil Diamond. And I hear a bit of Kurt Weill influences. And that is really not a negative point in this one. Many great contemporary artists I adore such as Tom Waits and Frank Zappa declare to be indebted to the work of this singer/songwriter so I was really quite keen to give this a few good listens. Still, this album leaves me with quite a double feeling. There are a few songs I really quite rate, like "Waiting For The Moving Van" and I can really appreciate the dark undertones of most of the songs, but the combination with the theatrical and at times bombastic musical compositions and orchestrations makes this an album I don't find a pleasure to put on. I hear and understand the quality, but it might not be for me.
Have never heard of David Ackles so first time listening to this. Very nice voice and great songs through the whole album! Good and very soft and easy listen to this one!
Sounds like show tunes done by an admirer of Jacques Brel and Scott Walker. Not as interesting as Taupin’s work with Elton John. Not awful.
Was quite enjoying it in a Neil Diamond kinda way, until Family Band, and it went all religious - not my thing. Rest of it is easy listening though.
weird
Enjoyable and soothing, bit reminiscent of Nick Cave at times.
Reminds me of what we get from Nick Cave later. Nice soft music for listening, but lacks melody and catchiness to really sell it. The lyricism is the biggest selling point.
J'ai quand même bien aimé. Les risques, les paroles, et aussi les expérimentation de certaines chansons. 3.85
A little corny sounding but I appreciated the orchestral stuff and how dramatic it was. The overall sound is super clean, like it could have come out decades later.
liked the second song a lot. Seems like an album that could grow on me. Also seems like it could be a good listen on a long drive
This album was confusing. I certainly appreciate the uniqueness of the album itself compared to much of the rest on this list. I was confused why an album called American Gothic written by an American singer songwriter was recorded in London. This gave me Broadway vibes. It was weird and I’m not sure this is an accurate rating, I neither loved nor hated it.
This guy is part old school crooner, part American Elton John (or maybe I'm predisposed to think so because Taupin produced), and part folksy poet (but not in a Woody Guthrie way, more of a stuffy academic way). The effect is somehow less than the sum of its parts. Did not work for me, but I respect the effort. Best track: Ballad of the Ship of State
It's such a curio. Extra points for being extra weird. Less points for it's amateur dramatics style.
Bit of Scott Walker and Neil Diamond energy but even after a couple of cracks couldn't get into the style of it all
Started promising, but became a bit Broadway musical meets Peter Allen meets Hot August Night. Anyway nice to discover someone I'd never heard of.
A different style of album. It's nice to have variety
It was alright, nothing special but not too horrible
honest folk
I love a good story album, and this one was alright
Ok, I was expecting folk/country but this is... Nick Cave long before Nick Cave? There's an obvious Americana theme, which matches up with the album art & name, and it's kinda miserable, as somewhat expected lol, but it's all piano/croon/jazz driven. Manic vaudeville vibes in places. A bit too out there for me, but nothing awful. 3/5.
Was slow. Good but slow
I enjoyed it more than i thought I would but I'm unsure what to rate it I espacially liked the first half but it got a bit boring after a while but it was still not something I had to force myselft through so I think I will go with 2.75 Stars so ~ 3 stars
David Ackles a tenté de se dépatouiller comme il le pouvait au milieu de la bouillasse proposée par Robert depuis quelques semaines, sans malheureusement réussir à s'élever suffisament pour atteindre le sacro saint 4/5. De généreux efforts qui sont néammoins appréciés.
David s'est retrouvé bloqué dans un studio d'enregistrement contre son gré et essaiera tant bien que mal de produire quelque chose de pas trop mauvais. Avec un peu de chance et de débrouillardise, il réussira finalement à s'en sortir sans trop se ridiculiser.
I found it hard to believe that Bernie Taupin produced this album because it was the first and last thing he would have produced. But Robert Kirby, who did the orchestration for this album, also did Bernie’s poetry album a year earlier so there may have been connection. The arrangements are interesting, and it was brave to put out an LP like this in the early 70s, but his delivery can be schmaltzy and the lyrics hold no mystery. As my co-judge said, he sounds like he’s trying to sound like the guy who left his cake out in the rain, but that was a great song (and there are none here).
I understand why Bernie Taupin would like this guy. He is like Tom Waits might have been in his early days if he had been sober (but he isn't at all like Tom Waits when he actually was sober). I hope that makes sense.
Eh
Ik vond dit verrassend aangenaam
Ja, beetje een erg klassieke zangstem/stijl maar wel lekker op zo’n warme dag
This album is ambitious. It's vivid and lyrical and self-indulgent. It's certainly interesting, and I can sense it's influence in more modern self-deprecating songwriters, particulary on Jim O'Rourke's Drag City outputs. Great listen and always happy to have something unknown like this come up.
Sounded like a Broadway musical score. One of those albums that I am happy I listened to but will never listen to any of those songs ever again
Another album that sounds like to belongs in a musical. That's not necessarily a knock, but it just stands out to me. Fairly pleasant album to listen to, no real highs though.
This isn't something I would typically go in for, but I'm glad to have been exposed. There are some pretty songs on here (Love's Enough, One Night Stand) and some groove (Ballad of the Ship of State). The whole production has some staginess about it, as if it is part of some bigger production. All in all, I found myself really enjoying the first half of this. The latter half either I got distracted or the music got less interesting. Either way, I feel like this falls into a hard 3 / 5.
Vi fattar du läser biblen
3+/5
Folk . Un poco aburrido.
Bits I actually quite enjoyed, there's a good narrative in the music. Doesn't stop a lot of being tedious and boring though. I spun up and down the score slider for this one so I guess it averages to a 3.
3.6 - Neil Diamond sings in a one-man musical about an American tramp finding his way in modern America. Our protagonist often daydreams about a life in olden times, and there are scenes of him working as a deckhand on a ship ("Ballad of the Ship of State"), and living as a pioneer in the untamed West ("Montana Song"). In his searching, he falls in love with a promiscuous girl ("Love's Enough", "One Night Stand") who ultimately leaves him one fateful night for a carnie at an amusement park ("Midnight Carousel"). In a fog, he stumbles through the park grounds but hears a choir singing a spiritual and is drawn to the glorious sound ("Family Band"). He's saved by the power of Jesus Christ, and gets the strength to continue on his bittersweet journey ("Moving Van"). Ultimately, he ends up in California ("Oh, California") and reunites with the unfaithful woman. They get married and it's miserable for both of them ("American Gothic"). We hear "Blues for Billy Whitecloud" as the credits roll.
Feel like I'm in a fancy bar, or at a concert hall. Fave track: Montana Song
De invloed op andere artiesten is inderdaad duidelijk. Het scheelt wel wat van nummer tot nummer
Well this is something a bit different. Show tunes without the show. I found myself alternating between bored by it's loungey-ness and charmed by it's eccentricity (I was even a little moved by the earnestness of some of the lyrics). Yep, really not sure how I feel about this one but I think I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.
Some decent tunes.
Singer-songwriter, estilo Sinatra. Es un poco rollo.
I don't get it. Like an over the top Neil Diamond?
Exactly like all the other vaguely weird vaguely boring 70s crooners that are on this list. They are indecipherable from one another
David 'ACKLES
I LOVED "Love's Enough", but the rest of the album sounded like it came straight from a Broadway musical. Not that I mind that normally, but it didn't work for me here
I'm sorry, but he's rhyming "Warn ya" with "California" It's not for me
Nice music but super boring I really couldn't get into it & don't want to try again.
If you've listened to 1 song, you've heard them all.
I have no clue why this is on the list. It’s pretty generic 70s singer/songwriter stuff. Nothing really stands out and there’s nothing really special here. It’s not unlistenable, just bland and uninspiring.
This was a weird album. I'm not sure why it needed to be included on this list. The very small number of plays this album has tells me it hasn't reached many people. I don't think they are losing out much by not hearing this.
The vocals and music often felt incohesive and this style seemed more at home in a Sondheim musical than an album for this list. It was like a badly done Billy Joel album
Folk d'autor passat per les mans de Bernie Taupin. Potser requeriria de més atenció de la qual es pot dedicar en una escolta superficial. Sembla que es valora sobretot per les seves lletres. Té sentit
This labeled Rock. It was not rock in my opinion. If it was labeled Folk I could give a 3. It’s silly but my mind was blocked by the label.
The first song or two was good but it was really quite unenjoyable after that
I really don't like these albums where someone is just telling a story with some barely discernible backing track. This wasn't interesting in the least.
Theatrecore ahhhh
Het is een beetje alsof je in het theater zit. Met een stem die de muziek vaak overheerst, soms meer vertelt dan zingt en soms spektakel suggereert. Het is wel een wat ouderwetse voorstelling helaas.
Was about to give this one a whole second listen through cuz I wanted to give the lyrics a chance but then thought what’s the point. I don’t like the music so it’s not gonna make a difference. The descriptions of this one call it something like an album waiting to be rediscovered by its intended audience. I’m not that audience. I totally see its appeal and combing show-tunes with a singer songwriter/Americana quality is unique but lost on me. I think I’ll come back to this one day and give it another shot cuz maybe I just didn’t get it but not feeling it today.
I don't like the chanson style. This stuff belongs in a stage musical (and I don't generally like them, either).
Pomp and circumstance are not my kind of thing
2.75
Dated and overwrought. Not a fan.
A little oddball
Ik moest denken aan Nick cave en aan variété en aan chansons. Lastig te plaatsen dit. En irritant.
Iets te pathetisch voor mijn smaak.
Solid album - just didn't attach to anything. 2/5