Ted’s triumphant return

Many years ago (2002, to be exact), I began to fall in love with Ted Leo (his music, to be precise).

When I heard The Tyranny of Distance for the first time, he seemed to me a beautiful fusion of Paul Weller/The Jam, Peter Shelley/Buzzcocks and Joe Strummer/The Clash with the American soul and perspective of a fellow Jersey boy like Springsteen and the conscience of Ian MacKaye/Fugazi.

I lived off Tyranny of Distance throughout the 2000s and loved both Hearts of Oak (2003) and Shake the Sheets (2004) along the way. But after the release of the admittedly disappointing Living with the Living (2007) I began to dread an incipient fear; that, while I still loved him and his music, perhaps a Ted Leo album would never affect me the same way again.

Fortunately, with the release of The Brutalist Bricks this week, I can say with cheerful certainty that the fear was mistaken. After listening to it more than a dozen times through, I say confidently that this is Ted’s best record since Tyranny. (Yes, better than Hearts of Oak and Shake the Sheets.)

In fact, I think the record is an early candidate for album of the year. Tracks like “The Mighty Sparrow”, “Mourning in America”, “The Stick” and “Where Was My Brain?” provide stirring evidence of Ted going back to the well of his punk rock roots.  Ted succinctly captures the predicament of people who want to make change in the world in “The Stick” (“You’re either nibbling at the carrot or you get beat with the fasces.”) “Bottled in Cork” is undoubtedly one of the best songs he’s written in some time, even if Pitchfork’s reviewer doesn’t like the opening line. (Think of it as an older Ted’s sequel to “The Ballad of the Sin Eater”.) Generally speaking, the focused and unbridled passion of Ted’s songwriting, which I thought was lacking somewhat on Living, is perceptible throughout the album.

Ted may be older and wiser but he hasn’t lost the ability to affect me as a listener. Listening to this album gives me comfort that there is someone out there making music that is meaningful to people who are trying to find some meaning and purpose and to people who crave some sense of hope in an alienating and often disappointing world.

Ted has an uncanny way of reassuring me that such a world, nevertheless, can surprise you with something beautiful once in a while, if you strive to find it. For that, I’ll always love the man and his music.