The Wallflowers was formed by Jacob Dylan, son of the legendary country guitarist Bob Dylan. When I heard Jacob [Vocals/writer/guitarist] was a son of Bob Dylan, it was so much of surprise for me since his genre is quite different from what his father use to play. I mean from country to alternative popular rock however it has been quite a success.
The Rebel Sweetheart is an album filled with songs explaining ironies of things happening around us where we try to search stars over polluted sky seeking for hope, experiencing young love, heartbreaks and explaining other emotions like agony, infatuation, amazement etc with larger than life themes. Jacob has been a whole and soul of this band, writing and composing all the songs. I got hook to this album listening to Days of Wonder song. The intro with simple guitar slides and on the roll of drums keyboards emote foot tapping intro. This song is full of irony where I believe the author states how he has begun finding love and happiness in this dark world.
“Polluted rays of filtered light,
tropical and warm.
Making shadows through the snow white
Resin covered skulls
Happy Birthday to the war”
Jacob has got a very soft voice suitable for popular music and he has used it very well with his compositions. In this song, you would find his voice stretching with the 2nd verse when he really pulls the tempo high and throws power in the song and comes back soft on the 1st verse again. You will observe this kind of variations in most of the songs. With couple of major and then to minor chords helps the song to emote as very touching but not a power rock song as whole if you want to call it. God says nothing back, is a track with soulful voice backed with guitar arpeggios(Playing a chord note by note without strumming). This song talks about agony caused over lost love and faith. I believe this one is OST for buffy the vampire slayer series.
“Last night I could not sleep at all
I hallucinated that you were in my arms
To be in your heart I failed my own
Love says nothing back but I told you so
I told you so”
Along with a unique way of drumming pattern keeping the low tempo is appreciating. The guitar fillers with sharp slides and beautiful minor pentatonic solo played with clean tone makes this song very adorable and touching. Another track similar to this composition is “From the bottom of my heart”, With simple arpeggios from guitar and very well sung vocal composition. You might like to listen to this but never try singing because this is song from the vocalist for the vocalist. Jacob, with soulful voice and heartbreaking lyrics emotes extreme pain and filth he feels because of being cheated in love.
“**Let me touch your lips, let me see where you’re at
Do you wonder how I am tonight
Then don’t lose time looking in my eyes
Not every tear means you’re gonna cry
*From the bottom of my heart
Comes a cold dark feeling
There is nothing but dust
In the layers I’m peeling “
Besides these, the tracks like “back to California”, “All things are new again” and “The passenger” are upbeat and foot tapping with those nice continuous guitar strums and catchy licks. One of those which you should nice when you making your way to office …it just sets your mood with a positive “note”! Last song I loved and which means a lot to me is “How far you’ve come”. To all the lovers, this is the song you should definitely sing for your better half. With beautiful guitar lick and keyboards with slow tempo, Jacob uses his soulful voice to deliver every word he sings with true emotion. He wrote this song to convince his sweet love to not be upset or be heartbroken for reasons not favoring her. It is about giving hope and lot of love. This is must listen song.
“The truth will not set you free
It’s okay to believe that you’re not good enough
God is not angry, not blind, deaf or dumb
He knows how far you’ve come”
A complete album, worth lending you ears once. You will prefer listening this while driving.