Eric McFadden - Train To Salvation (2009)

With an Eric McFadden album, you never know exactly what you are going to get. He is nothing if not eclectic. This is a primarily acoustic album with a heavy, European gypsy feel. However, this is not gypsy jazz in the Django Reinhardt tradition. If you want to hear Eric McFadden play in the style of Django, try his old side project "Holy Smokes." On Train to Salvation, he plays in more of a folk-gypsy style with occasional hints of flamenco, which is really more gypsy than Spanish anyway. The time signatures are frequently waltzes, and the tempos are slower than what you get on his rock-oriented stuff. Accordions and mandolins are nearly as prominent as his guitar. McFadden has always borrowed heavily from Tom Waits, and this is probably his most Waits-influenced album since "Our Revels Now Are Ended." In fact, the gypsy feel of the album is more connected to Waits' mutant gypsy music than anything that might be considered true gypsy folk music, and one might be surprised to learn that Waits himself did not write "Edgar Allen Polka." If you are looking for some of Eric McFadden's blazing solos on acoustic guitar, you are better off with either his self-titled album, or better yet, Devil Moon. However, if you want a strange acoustic experience reminiscent of "Our Revels," and 80's-90's Tom Waits, this is a good one to get.