Do You Feel Safe?4 Out of 5 Stars
Far too derivative and depressing to rate higher than 4 stars, Tom Morello's Nightwatchman side-gig releases a second album of politically based folk rock. "The Fabled City" is a richer sounding album than "One Man Revolution" and maybe even more of a downer. Embittered immigrants (the title track) share space with frustrated soldiers ("The Lights Are On In Spidertown") and doomed workers ("Night Falls") in a series of minor key rumblings.
Each song on "The Fabled City" is delivered in Morello's growl or a barked out shout. He is channeling a lot of influences (Springsteen on the title cut, Johnny Cash on "King of Hell," Woody Guthrie/Pete Seeger Union Songs on "Night Falls."), what is missing is any sense of optimism. Even a rabble rouser like Steve Earle knows to throw in one sing-along per CD, and "Saint Isabelle" comes closest here. It doesn't make the songs any less affecting, but it does make "The Fabled City" a tough disc to sit all the way through.
What you do need to wait for, however, is Morello's take on Post-Katrina New Orleans. "Midnight In The City Of Destruction" sounds deeply personal and direct, and hurls this epithet:
"I lost my guitar, my home and my good fortune.
I lost my Grandfather, two neighbors and a friend.
I pray that God himself will come and drown the President
if the levees break again."
"The Fabled City" is a big old lefty diatribe, and if you can live with that, you'll enjoy the darkly intense folk-protests Morello spits out. Just be prepared for the fact that this is one angry fellow folkie and Tom's making it clear that he is not going to go quietly.
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