Ian McLagan: Never Say Never

By: Dennis Cook

This is as fine and pure an album as Ian McLagan has ever been involved in. Given that the keyboardist-songwriter was a member of The Small Faces and The Faces and has played with everyone from The Rolling Stones to Dylan to Patty Griffin to Springsteen to Billy Bragg, it’s no small feat to hit the same heights already on his resume). McLagan’s piano and organ work are part of rock’s Rosetta Stone, putting boogie into Rod Stewart’s Every Picture Tells A Story, adding tenderness to Bruce’s Lucky Town, honky-tonk authenticity to the Georgia Satellites, whispering on Ryan Adams’ Love Is Hell. But, his associations have usually overshadowed his own work. However, his new solo album, Never Say Never (released March 3 on 00:02:59) with his ridiculously capable Bump Band has a good shot of finally putting the spotlight on his own compositions and gifts as a bandleader, arranger and singer.

While much of the inspiration for Never Say Never sadly emerged from the passing of McLagan’s wife – the absolutely exposed “Where Angels Hide,” “An Innocent Man” and title cut possess an articulate, unadorned honesty that cuts deep – this also happens to be the greatest Pub Rock album in a blue moon. The groundwater of Chuck Berry and Ray Charles flows underneath this ten-pack, which proves equally adept at ivory punishing romps as it does heart piercing ballads. Love in some form or another is the muse on every cut, and really is there better subject matter? As modern philosopher/cultural commentator Sam Keen once wrote, “In the depths of our being, in body, mind, and spirit, we know we are created to love and be loved. Fulfilling this imperative, responding to this vocation, is the central meaning in our lives.” Rarely has rock understood and communicated this idea with greater simple grace than Never Say Never. You’re a tough customer if you come away unmoved by McLagan’s cracked, character rich voice expressing everyday truths about love and loss.

McLagan, never a slouch in the writing department, has produced perhaps the strongest overall set of his composing career. This compares nicely to recent sterling efforts from Nick Lowe like At My Age, and while both Brits have been slapped with the dreaded “mature” or “elder statesman” tag, there’s nothing musty about either man. This is vibrant, expertly crafted stuff that knows how to get the job done in under four-minutes, leaving choruses and bridges, piano breaks and aching strings lingering in one’s mind. Every time I listen to Never Say Never I like it a bit more, and rare is the time I don’t hit repeat (or wipe away a tear) as closer “When The Crying Is Over” brings things to a resounding conclusion. Along the way there’s the Caucasian reggae bounce of “A Little Black Number,” Faces-worthy rocker “I Will Follow,” effervescent ukulele ditty “Killing Me With Love” and really just one finely honed number after another. Self-produced with a little mixing savvy from old pal Glyn Johns, Never Say Never is a bittersweet joy, full of ghosts and longing but also the great passion of the living.

I can feel your touch on my face
I remember kissing you for the first time
I can sense you just out of frame
And I’ll be reminiscing you for the rest of my life

Never loved anyone, never loved anybody
But you, baby
Never been lucky, baby
Never backed a winning horse
But I’ll never say never again

Ian McLagan & The Bump Band begin a rare, welcome tour of the western U.S. on April 28 in Phoenix, Arizona, which travels through San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle and more. Find full tour dates here.

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