This was my second major label release on Mercury records which got bought out by Universal Music Group. It was my attempt to broaden my base to a larger market, hopefully get some much needed radio play on commercial stations. Never happened, and in retrospect it was a mistake... and a blessing. You see, had I never recorded this album and faced the backlash that it received, particularly after the highly successful, press-wise attention that it's predecessor Big As Life had garnered, then Choochtown, and all my subsequent, "I don't give a fuck, I'm gonna make myself happy" albums never would have been born.

One glaring problem, at least to me, is I interpret with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight all the songs as demos really. I should have been working harder I think, on crafting these songs while I was touring constantly and promoting Big As Life. It reeks of sophomore effort to my mind. Kurt Vonnegut once graded all his books. He was tough on himself, but awarded a few with A+...anyway I think this is my least favorite Hamell record and I give it a C...and C is no good in Hamell world. Hows that for honesty? That having been said, there are some keepers as well...I still use "The Meeting" as my closer to this day. I get continued requests, which I'm glad to honor, for "Red Marty", I'm very proud of "The Vines" which I do regularly, and of course "John Lennon" as well.

I had done "In a Bar" for a long time after the album was recorded and even would get requests for it but I was disappointed when re-listening to it for this release. I thought the words weren't as good as I remembered and I wished I had been more adventurous musically. But, on the other hand both "Confess Me" and "Decisions" I really dug, think I might drag them out of retirement. This songwriting thing is tricky stuff....you could work these babies forever if you're not careful, it's a fine line between fresh and uncrafted sometimes, finely honed and overworked...yeesh..live and learn and better luck next time. (Which it was!)

The good news in regards to the recording of the record is that I made a lifelong friend and creative partner. Phil Nicolo and his brother Joe, collectively known as The Butcher Brothers were heavily involved with Ruffhouse Records. As a matter of fact Ruffhouse were interested in signing me at the same time Mercury was but it was voted down by Donny Ienner, president of SONY, (and Mariah Carey's beau at the time...), because, after witnessing my video for Sugarfree, he took the tape out of the video player, threw at Chris Shwartz, president of Ruffhouse and screamed, "Guys gotta want to be him and girls gotta want to fuck him...and this ain't the guy!!!" um, he's wrong about a coupla things there but we won't get into it....

Anyway Shwartz called me and said The Butcher Brothers would be interested in producing me right around the time that I was looking to record this second album. They brought me in, showed me around, they were great guys and we started a ten week process. I would take the train from NYC on Monday morning and take it home on Friday night, staying at a Motel 6 during the week but recording from 10 in the morning til midnight, (we'd quit early on Friday).

They were experiencing tremendous success there at Ruffhouse. They had had a lot of hits with Kris Kross, Cypress Hill, they were heavily involved in Joan Osborne's album, The Fugees had blown up and Lauren Hill's album was going gold EVERYWHERE!!! And I mean everywhere...we'd be recording and there were just stacking gold records against the wall from countries I never heard of because they no longer had wall space...on a 4 story building!! Seriously!

I've continued to record at Phil's studio for the past 15 years. He's the consummate professional, and loves music...I feel incredibly at home there. As I write this, my newest album, The Happiest Man in the World, which comes out Feb 11th, 2014 on New West Records will have Phil's fingers, (and ears) all over it.

THE ALL MUSIC REVIEW:


By the time Ed Hamell issued his first album actually recorded under the auspices of a major label, "rock," as a description of one's musical style, was no longer a desirable term with which to be labeled. The Austin-by-way-of-Syracuse performer couldn't have cared less: On The Chord Is Mightier Than the Sword, Hamell wore that particular badge proudly. Those who knew him as an acoustic guitar-toting solo act might have been perplexed at his decision to enlist a full backing band, but it turned out that the disc's fuller production neither dulled Hamell's word-salad verbal delivery nor overshadowed his one-of-a-kind instrumental attack. To the contrary, the support musicians give his mesmerizing spoken-sung narrative "The Vines" extra weight, the percussion echoing the Army drill monotony of the song's subject. What's most appealing, though, is Hamell's unabashed truthfulness; many of the songs seem to flow from his own experiences, and he's as candid declaring that he misses a friend who's moved away ("In a Bar") as he is singing about fighting off his insecurities ("Decisions"). Where some artists influenced by such punk-leaning acts as the Stooges and the MC5 might be loath to mention that they also adore John Lennon and Muddy Waters, Hamell isn't afraid to commemorate his rootsier heroes in song. He wraps it all up with a solo slide guitar workout, "The Meeting," that's the closest thing to a mission statement he's ever likely to record: "One guy and one guitar/So it's gotta be folk?/Oh man, how wrong they are." With those words, Hamell defined himself better than anyone else's descriptors ever could.-Kenneth Bayes