This is a TGEFM guest review. It may have been edited for content, spelling, or grammar but otherwise reflects the thoughts and opinions of the submitter. Sam is also going to be out on tour, heading down to this year’s Fest with Kali Masi and Tightwire. Read more about that here.
Red Scare Industries – 01 Apr 2022
The sound of a band blooming, unencumbered, and wholly true to themselves.
Full disclosure, this is not an unbiased review. I’m lucky enough to have survived several tours with Elway, and they’re my friends, but they’re the kind of friends I can be completely honest with regarding music, so I’m genuinely not just blowing holy smoke up their flat little butts here. Except Joe, he’s packing peaches in the trunk. That being said, I have to say this album is completely wonderful.
Since Better Whenever the band have grown a great deal. I feel like Elway took a headlong dive into new waters with that record, and they came back to shore to find someone had stolen their clothes. Hitching back to town with a cactus over their genitals, they picked up Bill Squid. What Squid brings to this band is something you never knew was missing. An inventive, cunning and incredibly powerful drummer with an ear for subtlety and a focused kind of fury that you really need when you’re putting together an album as kaleidoscopic as The Best Of All Possible Worlds. Better Whenever deserved better, and on The Best of All Possible Worlds we get to see Elway running down the bank and leaping into a graceful, ebullient skinny dip, giving no fucks about wandering back to town naked under the stars.
There’s a depth of texture in the production on this record that makes it a total pleasure to listen to again and again, in particular the rhythm section comes fully alive with lush and rumbling depths perfectly mixed to balance the often wild and beautifully erratic guitars. Tim and Brian are at their absolute peak here, seamlessly trading off Tim’s virtuosic licks and chugs, his intricate lines and solos backed by Brian’s rock solid rhythm playing. Brian is a consummate rhythm guitarist—the kind of guy every lead guitarist spends their life wishing they had behind them, and there are moments on this record where he slips up from the back of the mix to deliver guitar parts so fun you can he him smiling, the chords running so smoothly that they seem to slip and slide down around you like Paleozoic shale.
Lyricism and melody have long been cornerstones of Elway’s sound, and it is abundantly clear that Tim Browne has continued to nurture both in his writing as everything he pens becomes more muscular, confident and wisened by the introspection of his mountain years. Tim comes across as a scholarly musical polymath in these songs; effortlessly erudite, innately poetic, and delivering meticulous lyrics that lose none of their bite in the chewing. In total control of both of his instruments, he wields the full range of his voice with poise and power, and shows no fear as he playfully rips into the full breadth of his skill as a guitarist. One of my favourite things about Tim’s vocals is that it always sounds totally natural and virtually untouched recorded. I can’t even tell you how inspiring and refreshing it is to hear a voice as rich as Tim’s just being allowed to breathe on record, encumbered by layers of digital slick.
The record has many highlights, and many superb songs. “Folly After Death” is a folk-tinged romp that’s so evocative of Delusions era Colorado-Core that it feels like an immediate classic Elway romance tale, yet it brings a such new energy with its sophisticated guitar hooks and New Years Eve singalongs that you feel like you’re listening to the start of a whole new chapter in the story of Elway.
“Deep Fake” and its Spaghetti Western break drifts seamlessly into a galloping heavy metal outro, and you can hear Joe Henderer’s bass really sitting into its tone. A grumbling, sharp cheddar bass tone that feels 3 parts 80’s LA punk, and 2 parts Omaha grindcore. It really feels like Joe has found his sound, and he leans into his playing here with all the fun of his live performance, but with newfound sprinklings of flair and intricacy.
“The English Wishbone” is one of my all favourite Elway songs. There’s not much I can tell you about it if you haven’t heard it that will describe how a song so dreamy, lofty and dramatic can hit so hard with such enormous singalongs. It’s a barn-burner. A straight up literary love song of the highest imaginable calibre.
“The Jetty” is another personal favourite, because to me it does every single thing I love about Elway to the absolute maximum. It’s a smiling, sardonic, reluctantly optimistic pavement pounder. The rhymes are clever, the guitars dance and sparkle and it sounds like four rightly-cocky dudes cruising through town throwing nods, winks and smiles to everyone too dull to dig it. It’s a banger for the outsiders. Raise a drink to this one, but do it fast.
Subtle, deliberate, and revelatory, this album is quintessential listening for anyone who’s ever wondered how a band can balance a huge brain with an equally huge heart. A humbling masterclass in candor, melody, and modern punk rock songcraft, The Best of All Possible Worlds does lots of things you’re not expecting, and it does them like an unannounced guest at a raucous house party—you don’t see them arrive, but you notice all the weird things they did once they’ve gone.
It’s a grower, and a shower. Pop it on and treat yourself to something brave.
the white drew carey (aka – Jeff Sorley) is the founder and head editor of TGEFM. He’s lived (outside of) Chicago, Madison WI, (ugh) Penn State, Lyon FR, Oxford UK, central New Jersey, and now within earshot of SFO in the Bay Area. When not scouring the web for more great bands and labels to post about, he also spends time drawing (mostly) silly sci-fi and anime stuff under the name Asplenia Studios.
