Ray Lamontagne, Glasgow review: ‘abundantly soulful'
This concert to mark the 20th anniversary of Ray Lamontagne’s breakthrough album was a reminder of why it was so successful, writes Paul Whitelaw
The abundantly soulful American singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne released his debut album, Trouble, in 2004, but it didn’t achieve commercial success until 2006 – hence this “20th anniversary” tour in which he plays it in its entirety, plus a few other songs from his back catalogue.
A rapturously received and occasionally spellbinding performance, it served as a reminder of why the album was so successful. It’s really good. Packed full of memorable melodies, hooks and plainly heartfelt lyrics, it introduced to the world a folk-rock troubadour blatantly indebted to those introspective Laurel Canyon cats from the Woodstock Generation, but with a distinctive style all of his own.
Sure, his gorgeous raspy tenor croon is essentially an exact blend of Joe Cocker and John Fogerty, with a touch of Van Morrison’s rapt phrasing – like Morrison, LaMontagne doesn't write mere love songs, he delivers divine incantations – but he's more than the sum of his influences.
He never harangues you with that Big Voice, it's a warm, tender, instinctively controlled instrument that cuts loose only when it needs to. By amusing contrast, his speaking voice – unveiled during a long and rather earnest preamble to the Trouble segment of the set – is an endearingly nerdy cross between a young Al Pacino and Professor Denzil Dexter from The Fast Show.
Lanky, hirsute and casually dressed, like a hippie '70s sociology teacher baring his soul at a campus hootenanny, LaMontagne is an unassuming purveyor of unabashed emotion who proves that sincere introspection can strike a universal chord. Both he and his subtly impressive three-piece band deserved their climactic standing ovation.
As he made clear in his introduction, this show acknowledged that Trouble was something special and by its very nature unrepeatable, an album that means an awful lot to people, and to him.
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